2nd Level Vestiges (5e Other)

Acererak, the Devourer

Legend: Only bards and a few scholars remember Acererak’s name, but many know the legend of his supposed final resting place, the Tomb of Horrors. As rumors of the wealth and magic hidden in this fabled location spread, the tomb became a burial ground for more and more explorers and tomb robbers. In truth, however, the Tomb of Horrors was not Acererak’s sepulcher at all. It was merely part of his plan to gain eternal unlife and command of all undead. Acererak left behind a diary, and the information it contains combined with the actions of a stalwart few have at last brought the full tale of Acererak to light. In his diary, Acererak wrote that he was born of a union between a human woman and a demon. Despite his hideous deformities, his mother kept him and cared for him until, when he was ten years of age, some superstitious villagers burned down their house. Acererak survived the conflagration because of his demonic heritage, but his mother did not. In his diary Acererak recalls that incident as the event that propelled him on the path toward necromancy and revenge against humanity.

Acererak became a powerful wizard. As he grew older and saw the specter of death looming, he sought out and completed the ritual for becoming a lich. After he assumed his undead form, his power continued to grow for centuries more. The diary relates, however, that Acererak eventually felt the forces animating his undead body begin to wane. Knowing that final oblivion was near, he decided to build himself a secret tomb. “Only those of keenest luck and greatest skill will win through to me,” the diary read. “There, they shall receive a magnificent reward for their persistence.” The diary, the Tomb of Horrors, and the supposed reward were all parts of an elaborate ruse designed to bring powerful adventurers into the portion of the tomb that Acererak—by then a powerful demilich—called his Fortress of Conclusion. In truth, Acererak had devised a ritual that he hoped would merge his consciousness with the Negative Energy Plane through the sacrifice of potent spirits. Had he actually accomplished this goal, he could have assumed control of any undead on any plane and gained godlike powers as well as immortality.

But the infamy of the Tomb of Horrors drew more than wealth-hungry thrill-seekers intent on gaining the reward promised in Acererak’s diary. Supplicants also came. Necromancers questing for knowledge, seekers of eternal life, and lost souls in search of purpose traveled to the tomb to learn what they could of the dark arts. In time, the supplicants became worshipers, and they stayed to dwell near the object of their devotion. Eventually, a settlement called Skull City sprang up around the entrance to Acererak’s Tomb of Horrors.

Some of the heroes Acererak lured to his tomb proved even more powerful and ingenious than he had anticipated. After fighting their way through Skull City and the Tomb of Horrors, they made their way to the demilich’s Fortress of Conclusion. At the last possible moment, they surmised Acererak’s plan and destroyed the artifact that was crucial to his apotheosis. They struck down Acererak and shattered his phylactery. Normally, such an action would have sent Acererak’s spirit to Abyss, but the worship of the Skull City residents lent him a semblance of divinity; his desire to merge with the Negative Energy Plane proved stronger than the pull of the Abyss. Unfortunately for Acererak, souls do not travel to the Negative Energy Plane upon death. Since his spirit had no clear destination, it went nowhere, becoming a vestige divorced from all planes.

Special Requirement: You must place a gem about the size of a human tooth or eye in the center of Acererak’s seal. This gem is not used up in the summoning process, nor does it move from where you placed it, despite the manner in which Acererak manifests.

Manifestation: The gem you placed within the seal appears to float up into the air to the height of your head. Dust swirls in from the surrounding air and up from the ground to coalesce about the gem, forming a yellowed human skull with the jewel as a tooth or an eye. A moment later, other gems wink into being, so that each eye socket and the space of every tooth is occupied by a shining diamond, ruby, emerald, or sapphire. The jewels glow briefly with an inner light, and then Acererak speaks, his dry voice filled with contempt.

Sign: A gem replaces one of your teeth. If removed, the gem reverts to a normal tooth, and a new gem appears in its place.

Influence: As a vestige, Acererak possesses the immortality he desired but none of the power that should accompany it. If you fall under his influence, you evince a strong hunger for influence and primacy. If you are presented with an opportunity to fill a void in power over a group of creatures, Acererak requires that you attempt to seize that power. You might impersonate a missing city official, take command of a leaderless unit of soldiers, or even grab the reins of runaway horses to establish your supremacy.

Granted Features: While bound to Acererak, you gain powers that the great lich held in his legendary unlife.

Lich’s Energy Resistances: You gain resistance to either cold, lightning, or necrotic damage (your choice). You may change from one resistance to another as a bonus action.

Undead Vitality: You gain immunity to poison damage, and the poisoned condition.

Detect Undead: You can detect undead, as the detect evil and good spell, except you can only detect undead, and you need not maintain concentration on its effect. You can suppress or activate this feature as an action.

Hide from Undead: You become undetectable to undead. You are effectively invisible, as the invisibility spell, to any undead with an Intelligence score of 3 or lower. If an undead creature with an Intelligence score of 4 or higher becomes aware of your presence, the creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw, or you become invisible to that creature. Undead become aware of your presence if you target them with a spell or feature, touch them, or make an attack roll against them.

Speak with Dead: You can use your action to question the dead, as the speak with dead spell. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a short or long rest.

Paralyzing Touch: You can use your action to touch a living creature within your reach to paralyze them. The touched creature must make a Constitution saving throw, and on a failed save, the creature takes 1d6 cold damage and is paralyzed for a number of turns equal to your binder level. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. For every five binders level you posses, the damage increases by 1d6 (up to 5d6 cold damage at 20th level).

You can use this feature only once per combat. You can also use this feature outside of combat, although you are unable to do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Dahlver-Nar, The Tortured One

Legend: Bards tell two stories of Dahlver-Nar, both linked to the magic items that carry his name—the teeth of Dahlver-Nar. Some say that because Dahlver-Nar was antiquity’s most powerful cleric, his followers treated his teeth as holy relics after his death and they somehow gained magical powers through this veneration. Others insist that Dahlver-Nar was a cleric of little consequence who discovered some magic dragon teeth in the ruins of a red dragon’s lair. In this version of the story, the teeth were named after Dahlver-Nar because he became a terror in the region where he acquired them. Binder scholars know a different story—that Dahlver-Nar was a powerful cleric who forsook his deity to pursue the power of pact magic. The fabled teeth of Dahlver-Nar, to which all the legends attribute miraculous powers, were neither his own nor those of the dragon he battled. They were the teeth of beings that became vestiges after death, and they could grant abilities similar to those that the vestiges themselves imparted. Pact magic treatises relate that Dahlver-Nar pulled out his own teeth and replaced them with those of the vestiges, but that using them all drove him mad. What happened thereafter is a matter of debate, but the texts maintain that Dahlver-Nar eventually died, and the teeth were lost, divided up among the squabbling followers he had managed to gain and then spread across the world. Today, Dahlver-Nar exists as a vestige in his own right—perhaps brought to that state through his close association with so many others.

Manifestation: Dahlver-Nar’s frightful apparition floats in the air above his seal, with arms and legs hanging limply. Teeth and fangs of all kinds stud his entire body, replacing even his eyes. What skin is visible between the teeth appears to be the moist, pink flesh of gums. Dahlver-Nar’s mouth is a bloody ruin that clearly lacks teeth, and when he opens it to speak, only a moan issues forth. Some binders believe that his vestige form is a punishment inflicted by the other vestiges, but others insist that he appears as he does because of his everlasting obsession with the teeth that bear his name.

Sign: Several teeth grow from your scalp. Though they are small enough to be hidden by a large quantity of hair or a hat, a touch reveals them immediately.

Influence: You shift quickly from distraction to extreme focus and back again. Sometimes you stare blankly off into space, and at other times you gaze intently at the person or task at hand. Since Dahlver-Nar dislikes any task that requires more than 1 round of concentration (such as some spellcasting, concentration on an effect, or any action that requires a Concentration check), he requires that you undertake no such activities while under his influence.

Granted Features: Dahlver-Nar armors you and blends his madness with your sanity, lending you some of his selfish powers.

Mad Soul: Binding to Dahlver-Nar grants you advantage on Wisdom saving throws to resist magical effects.

Natural Defense: You gain an alternative way of calculating your armor class. While you are wearing no armor, your AC equals 13 + your Charisma modifier. You can wield a shield and still gain this benefit.

Maddening Moan: You can emit a frightful moan as an action. Every creature of your choice within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be incapacitated until the start of your next turn. A creature that can't hear you automatically succeeds on this saving throw. For every five binder levels you possess, the range increases by 15 feet (up to 50 feet at 20th level), and creatures are incapacitated for an additional turn (up to 5 turns at 20th level).

You can use this feature only once per combat. You can also use this feature outside of combat, although you are unable to do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Shield Self: As an action, you can designate one creature within 20 feet to share the damage you take. As long as the creature remains within range, you take only half damage from all effects that deal damage, and it takes the rest. The effect ends immediately if either you or the subject dies. For every five binder levels you possess, the range increases by 20 feet (up to 100 feet at 20th level).

An unwilling target of this feature can make a Wisdom saving throw to negate this effect. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. You can designate an unwilling target only once per combat.

Haagenti, Mother of Minotaurs

Legend: The tale of how minotaurs originated changes according to the culture and race of the teller, but frost giants blame Haagenti. Thrym, their primary deity, had tried to force a goddess of the humans to marry him and failed when her brother disguised himself as Thrym’s bride and disrupted the ceremony. The angry and humiliated god consoled himself with dalliances among his giant worshipers. Haagenti, a hill giant sorceress, learned of his liaisons and used a spell to transform herself into a beautiful frost giant so that she might bear Thrym’s powerful half-god children. Her ploy succeeded, and a year later she gave birth to twin sons. Once the children of his dalliances had grown old enough, Thrym set out to visit and test them all. He fought each child to see who was the strongest and bravest, intending to invite the most fit to join him in Jotunheim. When he sought out Haagenti, he found her herding cattle in the warm lowlands and became enraged when he saw her true form. But when he raised his axe to fell her, two horribly ugly giants leapt to her defense.

Thrym realized to his disgust that they were his sons. Thrym would have destroyed them at that moment, but he suddenly realized that Haagenti had taught him a valuable lesson. His failed attempt at marriage had been fouled by a beautiful form created through trickery, and now he had fallen victim to the same ruse again. Rather than kill Haagenti and her children, Thrym cursed them to resemble the cattle with which they wallowed, turning them into minotaurs. Then he left, vowing to teach his frost giant worshipers to distrust all beauty. How Haagenti became a vestige is unclear, but binder lore holds that her guilt at ruining beauty for the frost giants was so great that she could not bear to exist in any place that held beauty of any kind. Since every place in the planes seems beautiful to some being, she could find no eternal home anywhere. Haagenti refuses to speak on the subject and becomes angry when questioned about her past.

Special Requirement: To summon Haagenti, you must be either possess the Powerful Build trait from your race, or be able to speak Giant.

Manifestation: When Haagenti is summoned, a huge icicle thrusts up from the ground within the confines of her seal. Haagenti’s blurry white form can be seen moving within the ice for a moment, then she spreads her arms and shatters her icy prison. Although she appears with her back to her summoner, her form is clearly that of a winged minotaur. Haagenti waves her ice shield and battle axe to disperse the cold mist around her, then turns to face her summoner, revealing her bull-like face and icicle beard. Her frost-rimed fur is pure white, and her horns appear to be made of ice. Her powerfully muscled form doesn’t appear female, but her smooth voice sounds quite feminine. Sign: You possess the same features as you always did, but they somehow make you more ugly than before. Others easily recognize you, but small differences make you less appealing to look upon. In addition, your bulk expands until you weigh half again as much as you did before.

Influence: You feel ashamed and occasionally bashful in the presence of beautiful creatures. In addition, Haagenti requires that you give deference to any creature you perceive as more attractive or charismatic than yourself. This deference might take the form of a bow, a salute, opening a door for the creature in question, not speaking until spoken to, or any other gesture that acknowledges the creature as superior to you. In any case, you must constantly treat any such creature with respect or suffer the penalty for defying Haagenti’s influence.

Granted Features: Haagenti grants you some of Thrym’s skill with arms and armor, plus her own aversion to transformation and the ability to inflict a state of confusion upon others.

Shield Proficiency: You gain proficiency with shields. In addition, you can don or doff a shield as an object interaction, instead of as an action.

Weapon Proficiency: You gain proficiency with battleaxes, greataxes, and handaxes, and you have a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls with these weapons.

Immunity to Transformation: No mortal magic can permanently affect your form while you are bound to Haagenti. Effects such as polymorph or petrification might force you into a new shape, but you can immediately resume your normal form as a reaction. You remain affected by such effects only when you choose to do so.

Confusing Touch: You can confuse by touch. The target of your touch must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become confused, as the confusion spell. If your binder level is at least 15th, this feature instead functions as the maze spell.

You can use this feature only once per combat. You can also use this feature outside of combat, although you are unable to do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Malphas, The Turnfeather

Legend: Only elves who know their history well are familiar with the story of Malphas, a lesser scion of an ancient elven kingdom’s ruling family. Malphas joined a druidic order under pressure from his elders, who hoped that enforced dedication to nature would teach him greater respect for their traditions and the elven way of life. After a contentious start, the plan seemed to work. Malphas, always the black sheep of the family, soon became a model member of the elven nobility. His trademark, a white dove’s feather, could be found at sites where good deeds had been done, although no one ever saw him perform them. This impression was all part of Malphas’s act.

While studying the druidic traditions, he met another elf druid—a female who won his heart with guile and promises of power. Together they hatched a plan to make Malphas heir to the throne. While his white feathers turned up wherever good events were occurring, black feathers began to appear on the murdered corpses of royalty. Elf diviners soon discovered that Malphas was at the root of their troubles, and the traitorous elf was forced to flee. Malphas flew to his lover’s hideaway among the trees, intending to warn her and flee with her. But when she heard his story, she flew into a rage, mocking him for his stupidity and his overtures of affection. To wound him even more deeply, she revealed her true form—that of a drow. When the elf authorities found Malphas, he lay on the ground, dead not from magic or physical harm, but from the breaking of his heart and the loss of his soul.

Manifestation: Malphas begins his manifestation with a furious fluttering of white doves. The creatures explode out of thin air, then fly away from each other and fade from view, revealing a handsome male elf clad in black. Malphas has pale skin, black eyes, and black feathers for hair. His smile reveals black teeth, and when he speaks, his black tongue licks the air like a snake’s. Malphas wears a noble’s finery in funerary black, and a cloak made of raven heads and feathers hangs from his shoulders. The heads start up a raucous cry whenever he moves too much, so he remains largely still, making only small gestures with his black-gloved hands. Malphas’s hoarse voice croaks and cracks when he speaks, a quality that annoys him greatly.

Sign: Your teeth and tongue turn black.

Influence: While influenced by Malphas, you fall in love too easily. A kind word or a friendly gesture can cause you to devote yourself entirely to another person. Should that person reject your affection, your broken heart mends the moment another attractive person shows you some kindness. In addition, if you have access to poison, Malphas requires that you employ it against your foes at every opportunity.

Granted Features: Malphas grants you the ability to spy without detection, to disappear, to ward off poison, and to strike vicious blows against vulnerable foes.

Poison Resistance: You gain resistance to poison damage.

Bird’s Eye Viewing: At will, you can use a bonus action to summon a bird to aid your powers of observation, as the find familiar spell, except it is always a raven or dove, and it disappears when your pact with Malphas ends.

Sudden Strike: Once per turn when you hit with an attack roll, you can deal an extra 1d6 damage if you had advantage on the attack. You don't need advantage on the attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn't incapacitated, and you don't have disadvantage on the attack roll. This feature deals an additional 1d6 damage for every five binder levels you posses beyond 5th (up to 4d6 damage at 20th level). The extra damage from sudden strike stacks with that from sneak attack whenever both would apply to the same target.

Invisibility: As an action, you can make yourself invisible, as the invisibility spell. Once you reach a binder level of 10th, you can use this feature as a bonus action. You can use this feature only once per combat. You can also use this feature outside of combat, although you are unable to do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Savnok, The Instigator

Legend: Savnok lived before recorded history. His story contains about as much myth as it does fact, since the barrier between truth and fiction eroded long before the current age. According to the legend, Savnok served Hextor and Heironeous before the two half-brothers came to blows. The gods were charged with guarding their mother’s arms and armor while she met with her lovers. Both Hextor and Heironeous were awed and tempted by their mother’s implements of war, but neither son dared disobey his mother. Seeing their desires written clearly upon their faces, however, Savnok devised a means to steal the items or his masters. Relying on their trust in him, Savnok tricked Hextor and Heironeous into letting him guard their mother’s armory. But once his gaze fell on the goddess’s armor, Savnok could not resist donning it. Just touching the metal made him drunk with power. After putting it on, he knew he could never take it off, so he fled the godly realms with the divine armor.

Hextor and Heironeous soon noticed that their servant and the armor were missing. When they looked for Savnok, they found him at war on the Material Plane. Since no energy or mortal weapon could pierce the goddess’s armor, Savnok had decided to set about carving out a kingdom for himself. Shocked at his betrayal and horrified by their own failure to perform their duties, Hextor and Heironeous appeared before Savnok and ordered him to relinquish their mother’s armor. Their former servant responded by attacking, and although he could not harm them, neither could they harm him. Heironeous flew into the sky and tore thunderbolts from the clouds to hurl at Savnok, but Hextor, realizing that they needed deific weapons to defeat the armor, fled back to his mother’s armory. There, he found a bow and grabbed a handful of arrows, then returned to find Heironeous still hurling lightning with little effect. Hextor barely had the strength to draw his mother’s bow, but draw it he did. With each arrow he fired, a dozen missiles streaked down to strike Savnok.

Though the arrows had little power behind them, they did pierce the armor, and as Savnok raged at the injustice the two gods had done him, he slowly bled to death from dozens of small wounds. When at last Savnok lay dead, Hextor and Heironeous removed the armor and debated what to do next. Not only had they failed to guard their mother’s armory, but Hextor had also stolen her bow and arrows. It was Hextor who suggested that they hide Savnok and replace the items, leaving their mother none the wiser. Heironeous didn’t like the plan, but he wanted to protect his half-brother. After all, Hextor’s theft had solved a problem for which Heironeous was partly responsible and prevented Savnok from wreaking still more havoc in the mortal lands. Together, the two gods hid Savnok’s essence in a place even they could not reach. Heironeous has regretted this decision ever since.

Special Requirement: To summon Savnok, you must have stolen something and made neither reparations nor apology for that act.

Manifestation: The first sign of Savnok’s manifestation is an arrow streaking out of thin air to strike something unseen above his seal. Then a dozen more arrows whistle into the seal, each one landing with a metallic ping. Trickles of blood spout into the air where the arrows hang, and as more strike home, the blood gradually outlines a heavily armored form that seems too broad and powerfully built to be human. Savnok’s features are obscured by his plate armor and helm, as well as the rivulets of blood and the many arrows that pepper his body. When Savnok speaks, he spits out bitter words with a gravelly voice that seems heavy with resentment.

Sign: A piece of an arrow appears under your skin somewhere on your body. It looks as though your skin has healed over a broken-off arrow that had previously wounded you. The arrow deals no damage, but at times it causes you some discomfort. If removed, it disintegrates immediately, and another appears somewhere else on your body.

Influence: Savnok’s influence makes you headstrong and recalcitrant. Once you make up your mind about a particular issue, very little can change your thoughts on the matter. In addition, whenever you don armor, employ a shield, or wear any other item that improves your AC, Savnok requires that you not remove that protection for any reason.

Granted Features: Savnok grants you abilities associated with his death and the command of allies’ positions.

Call Armor: You can summon a suit of half plate armor as an action, which appears about your body. The armor fails to appear if you are already wearing armor. You can dismiss the armor with another action. The armor disappears when your pact with Savnok ends.

Once you reach a binder level of 10th, you gain proficiency with heavy armor, and you can summon a suit of plate armor, instead of half plate armor.

Savnok’s Armor: While wearing your called armor, you can ignore some of the damage from attacks by non-piercing weapons. You gain resistance to bludgeoning and slashing damage from non-magical attacks.

Savnok's Subtle Strength: You are not subjected to disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks from wearing armor. Once you reach a binder level of 10th, your Strength score becomes 15 if it was 14 or lower.

Move Ally: You can use a bonus action to instantly swap positions with any visible willing ally within 10 feet of your position. Objects carried by you or your ally go along, but creatures do not. For every five binder levels you possess, the range increases by 10 feet (up to 50 feet at 20th level).

Once you reach a binder level of 10th, you can also use this feature as a reaction when an ally is targeted by an attack, spell, or feature. If you use this feature as a reaction, you swap positions with the targeted ally, and you become the target of the triggering attack, spell, or feature.

You can use this feature only once per combat. You can also use this feature outside of combat, although you are unable to do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

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