8th Level Vestiges (5e Other)

Abysm, the Schismed

Legend: Little is known about the origin of the vestige that is Abysm, but some have learned that a strange group of psionic users once visited the great city of Myth Drannor on Faerûn. These visitors wished to learn more about mythals and spent much time in research while in the great elven city. Scholars theorize that they then created a psionic mythal around a secret city of psychics and called it Abysm.

Imagine a city of psions, all interconnected by their psicrystals and a great mythal of psionic energy. Now imagine all of them dying overnight. No one knows what disaster visited the city, but it killed every living thing. Some believe that due to the inhabitants' direct connection to the mythal by way of their psicrystals, their souls did not depart as they should have. Instead they got caught in the weave of psionic energies, and the resulting combination of energies was simply too much for the crystals to hold - all psicrystals shattered at once and gave birth to the vestige that is Abysm.

Some researchers and lore-seekers say that Abysm has only recently became sane enough to maintain a safe binding for more than a few seconds. Many old tales relate how binders found themselves being nearly driven insane just by contacting it, but now it does respond and answer the call of those who seek it.

Manifestation: Crystals grow from the seal into a prismatic tree that suddenly cracks and shatters into dust. The dust swirls into a shimmering, rainbow-laden cyclone that forms an indistinct face. A discordant voice speaks to the binder, saying, "We, Abysm."

Sign: Your fingernails and toenails become crystal, and you "sweat" gem dust like a maenad does.

Influence: Your speech pattern becomes disconnected, as if many voices are trying to speak through you. Your mannerisms also change from moment to moment: masculine to feminine, regal to shy, and confident to passive.

Granted Abilities: While bound to Abysm, you gain powers that various city inhabitants had at some point in their lifetimes.

Psionic Boon: You gain 21 power points when you bind to Abysm. If you gain power points from more than one source, you add them together. You can cast spells using power points, expending one point per level of the spell you cast. You cannot cast any spells you know from another class, or from the binder sects by expending power points. You regain all expended power points when you finish a long rest.

Additionally, when you cast a spell in this way, you cast the spell psionically. The spell doesn’t require verbal, somatic, or material components that lack a gold cost.

Overpower: You gain access to the spells enhance ability, chromatic orb, detect thoughts, levitate, scrying, and summon construct for the duration of the binding. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells. You can cast these spells by expending power points, but you cannot cast these spells by expending a spell slot.

Psicrystal: You gain the service of the Psicrystal minor spirit, and it doesn't count against the number of spirits in your service. This spirit is always manifested, granting you use of its abilities, although it doesn't count against the number of spirits you can manifest.

Conversion: You can use your reaction to convert the energy of an attack into light, as the absorb elements spell, except your next attack deals 5d6 damage of the triggering type, and you shed bright light out to a distance of 60 feet for one minute. 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.

Mindlink: You can use your action to forge a telepathic link with up to 10 willing creatures of your choice, no two of which are more than 30 feet apart. Once the link is formed, it lasts for 8 hours, and it works over any distance (but not across planes). Affected creatures can communicate telepathically with each other even if they do not share a common language.

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.

Ashardalon, Pyre of the Three

Legend: At the dawn of time, the three progenitor dragons created the universe during the Age of Dragons. This age came to an end with the murder of Siberys, the Dragon Above, at the claws and fangs of Khyber, the Dragon Below. Moving to contain Khyber, Eberron, the Dragon Between, folded the wicked dragon in her coils, and became the world we know today. But Khyber stirred in her bonds, and spawned the terrible demons and their Overlords, heralding the Age of Demons.

Dragons tell the legend that at the kindling of this terrible age, they were created by the blood of slain Siberys falling upon the soil of Eberron, creating their kind from two of the mighty Progenitor Wyrms. But for Ashardalon, this was not enough. With the Draconic Prophecy rediscovered, the dragons had begun to fight back against their demonic oppressors and rise from their primitive state. Ashardalon posed as one of the dragon's greatest heroes, crusading against fiend and Overlord and manipulating the Prophecy to dragonkind's advantage. But it was all a ruse, subtly shifting fortunes and selecting courses of events to bring him to one certain moment in time.

An Overlord, it's identity now unknown, was bowed and broken before him, outmaneuvered by two millennia of Ashardalon's plotting of Prophetic events. Instead of slaying the fiend or binding it, Ashardalon tore his own draconic heart out of his chest with a claw and enacted a dark ritual, drawing the Overlord into the void where his heart was just moments before. But this was no merger of beings, as with Kyuss and Katashka eons later. Rather, the great red wyrm assumed all of the Overlord's strength and power, without losing his self. Finally, Ashardalon was complete, a being made up of all three Progenitor Wyrms.

Proclaiming himself the new god of dragonkind, Ashardalon cut a swath of destruction across the face of Eberron, hoarding and rampaging with an unholy fervor. Even Dol Dorn, Sovereign of Strength and Steel, could not whether Ashardalon's wrath. Finally, it is said that the remote, distant gods of the dragons were forced to act and seal Ashardalon away for eternity. Others say that once his initial madness abated, Ashardalon left the cosmos of his own accord to create a new universe in his image, using the power of the Three.

Special Requirement: In order to summon Ashardalon, you must have performed a task, favor, or quest to aid a dragon or similar creature (such as a dragonborn).

Manifestation: Ashardalon tears open the ground with his long black talons and hauls his massive body up from a flaming pit. The red dragon is wreathed in flames and has a burning hole where his heart should be. He bellows in anger before turning to the binder and demanding to know why he has been disturbed.

Sign: A patch of skin over your heart is marked by a deep-hued crimson sigil of a curled red dragon.

Influence: You greatly hunger for vengeance against those who harm or slight you. Ashardalon requires you to accept any opportunity to strike a foe who damages or insults you in preference over any other target.

Granted Features: Ashardalon grants you some of the vast power he collected during his life as a dragon and a fiendish creature.

Ashardalon’s Vigor: Ashardalon grants you some of the vast resilience he enjoyed in life. When you form a pact with Ashardalon, you gain 40 temporary hit points.

Fiend’s Heart: You share some of the defensive benefits of the fiend once bound to Ashardalon’s body. This effect reduces the damage you take from all sources by 5, and grants you immunity to fire damage.

Ashardalon’s Greed: You can use a bonus action to locate objects near you, as the locate object 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.

You also have advantage on Intelligence (Investigation) and Wisdom (Perception) checks to find items for the duration of your pact with Ashardalon.

Ashardalon's Insight: You can identify the properties and command words of a magic item, as the identify 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.

Ashardalon’s Presence: You can use your action to strike fear into the hearts of your foes, as the fear spell. When you use this feature, the vestige’s sign shows through any armor or clothing you wear for 1 round, burning like a fiery brand (though it doesn’t actually deal damage or start a fire). You cannot use this feature if you do not show Ashardalon's sign.

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.

Halphax, The Angel in the Angle

Legend: An engineer of inestimable excellence, Halphax made great advances in architecture of all kinds. His influence can be seen in the solid architecture of the dwarves, the beauty of elven buildings, the comfort of gnome dwellings, and the practicality of halfling homes. His greatest passion, however, was the architecture of military fortifications and the art of defense. Halphax’s walls still encircle towns, and most of the castles he designed are still standing today, even though more than a thousand years have passed since he last sketched a floor plan. Unfortunately for him, the great architect’s professionalism became his downfall. In Halphax’s time, gnomes were as populous as humans. They lived in grand cities that rivaled those of the elves, and they welcomed all civilized races into these metropolises to live and trade. The hobgoblins were the first of the goblinoids to rise out of tribalism and find welcome in the gnome city states.

They quickly took to gnome society, learning as much as they could and using their strong backs and hale bodies to earn places for themselves in the military and manual labor trades. Then, in an act known to gnomes as the Great Betrayal, the hobgoblins turned against their benefactors in a series of well-coordinated attacks. The victorious goblinoids turned each gnome city into a prison, using the fortifications meant to keep enemies out to trap the gnomes within. To ensure that they overlooked no means of escape, they captured and enslaved the gnomes who had designed them. Through a combination of threats and rewards, they forced the gnomes to make these prisons even more effective. Many gnome architects chose to die rather than help the hobgoblins, and others secretly used their positions to help their kinfolk escape the city. But when the hobgoblins threatened the life of Halphax’s wife, the great architect put all his effort into creating the most impregnable prison possible. Legend holds that no gnome ever escaped Halphax’s city, and it was the last goblinoid holding to fall in the war that followed the Great Betrayal.

When at last the goblinoids were defeated, the prison city that Halphax had built was found empty of all gnomes but him. The hobgoblins had killed them all except Halphax and his wife. She could not bear to be the cause of so much tragedy, however, and took her own life. When the gnomes attempted to apprehend Halphax and hold him responsible for his deeds, the architect vanished into his city. The allied armies tore the city down to its foundations in their attempts to find him, but he was never seen again.

Special Requirement: Halphax’s sign must be drawn inside a building, in a corner of the structure.

Manifestation: When Halphax manifests, the corner in which he was summoned appears to warp, growing deeper and extending to what appears to be an infinite distance beyond the limits of the structure. In that distance, a figure appears, and suddenly the distance closes, bringing Halphax into his seal. Halphax always takes the form of a gnome wearing leather breeches and a vest, both of which are covered in pockets and loops for holding tools and items. The tools of an engineer hang from his belt, and he usually appears in a posture of boredom, hands in his pockets. Halphax’s most striking feature is that he seems to have no flesh and bone beneath his clothes—only broken bits of stone and masonry. The shattered features of bas-reliefs and gargoyles make up his face.

Sign: Your body takes on the appearance of cracked stone.

Influence: In his time as a vestige, Halphax seems to have lost all memory of his life as well as any feeling of guilt or shame for his actions. Thus, when you are under his influence, you lose any normal sense of shame or embarrassment. However, if someone threatens a hostage you care about—be it a creature or an item—Halphax requires that you accede to the hostage taker’s demands.

Granted Features: Halphax grants you great knowledge of mechanical arts as well as the power to imprison foes, build towers, and gird your body with the hardness of stone.

Halphax’s Knowledge: You have advantage on Intelligence checks relating to siege weapons and mechanical devices.

Damage Reduction: Bludgeoning, slashing and piercing damage you take from non-magical weapons is reduced by 5.

Imprison: You can imprison a foe deep in the earth with only a touch. As an action, a creature you touch must make a Constitution saving throw or be imprisoned. as the imprisonment spell, except it lasts for two minutes. You cannot imprison a creature while you already have another imprisoned from the use of this 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.

Iron Wall: As an action, you can cause a flat, vertical iron wall to spring into being, as the wall of stone spell, except where noted here. The wall is made of iron, rather than stone, it disappears after 1 minute, and you don't need to maintain concentration on its effect.

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.

Secure Shelter: As an action, you can bring a sturdy stone tower into being at any point on the ground within 60 feet of you, as long as the space can accommodate its dimensions. Once you have used this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

You conjure a two-story tall tower with a radius of 20 feet made entirely of stone. The interior of the tower is warm and dry, regardless of conditions outside. It has level floors, large double doors, two shuttered windows, a large fireplace, and battlements on the roof. The tower is otherwise furnished and decorated however you like. It contains sufficient food to serve a three-course meal for up to 10 people each day. Furnishings, food, and other objects created by this feature crumble to dust if removed from the tower, reappearing within the tower moments later.

The tower is made of stone that cannot be damaged by normal means. The door, shutters, and even chimney are secure against intrusion, the former two being arcane locked and the latter secured by an iron grate at the top and a narrow flue. In addition, these three areas are protected by an alarm spell. Finally, an unseen servant is conjured to provide service to you for the duration of the tower.

After 30 days or when you use this feature again, the tower harmlessly crumbles and sinks back into the ground, leaving any creatures or foreign objects that were inside it safely on the ground. Using this feature on the same spot at least once every 30 days for a year makes the tower permanent.

Orthos, Sovereign of the Howling Dark

Legend: Orthos might well be the original vestige—the first being to break the boundaries and see past the window of reality to the nothingness beyond. Pact magic texts always mention this entity, and persistent explorers can find its seal represented in art or architecture on most planes, as well as in the ruins of many ancient civilizations. Binder scholars have a thousand theories about Orthos’s origins, but none is more than mere supposition. All agree that Orthos is inestimably old, and it has long since shed whatever form and persona it might once have had, becoming an alien and distant being. In deference to its great age and the hallmark of its appearance, binder scholars have dubbed Orthos the Sovereign of the Howling Dark.

Special Requirement: You must summon Orthos within an area of bright light.

Manifestation: When Orthos begins to manifest, a breeze seems to pass over the summoner, but it ruffles nothing except the summoner’s hair and clothes. The breeze intensifies, becoming a cold wind, and a low whistle emanates from the vicinity of Orthos’s seal. Directly over it appears a black speck—a mote of shadow like a blind spot in the observer’s vision. The whistle becomes a moan that slowly rises in pitch and volume, eventually transforming into a howl as the darkness spirals outward, opening like the pupil of some great cat’s eye with an explosive rush of wind. The howling grows so loud that it pains the ear while the seemingly nonexistent wind buffets the summoner. Then it stops. In the sudden silence, an unseen, unheard, yet palpable presence slides out of the black aperture and hovers heavily over the seal. Though not detectable by any sense, Orthos is eerily extant, and its presence can be felt by even the dumbest of beasts. The vestige says nothing; its summoner can only plead her case and hope that Orthos does not impose its influence.

Sign: You always seem to be buffeted by a breeze that no one else can feel, even when you’re indoors. The eerie wind makes no noise, but it tousles your hair and belongings, frequently changing direction.

Influence: While influenced by Orthos, you are averse to darkened areas and loud noises. Although you can endure such conditions, they give you a sense of panic and make you short of breath. Orthos requires that you always carry an active light source with a brightness at least equal to that of a candle, and that you not cover it or allow it to be darkened for more than 1 round. Additionally, Orthos requires that you speak only in a whisper.

Granted Features: Orthos gives you blindsight, displacement, and a breath weapon that you can use either as a weapon or to deliver messages.

Blindsight: You gain blindsight out to 30 feet.

Whispering Wind: At will as an action, you can send a message on the wind as though using the message cantrip, except where noted here. You only need to know the approximate location of the target, and the range is 200 miles.

Displacement: You can use your action to surround yourself with a light-bending glamer that grants you three-quarters cover for one minute. You cannot use this cover to hide, but otherwise gain the full benefits of three-quarters cover. Thus, you have a +5 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws. As normal, if you would benefit from different degrees of cover, only the most protective degree of cover applies.

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.

Whirlwind Breath: As an action, you can exhale a scouring blast of wind in a 60-foot cone. Every creature in the area must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 10d6 force damage and is knocked prone and pushed 20 feet away from you, or just outside of the cone, whichever is a shorter distance. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage, and isn't knocked prone and pushed back.

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.

Zceryll, The Star Spawn

Legend: Thousands of years ago, an alienist sorceress known as Zceryll learned bizarre powers in a fight to defend herself against oppression. She was promised untold power by strange, alien beings known as star-spawn from beyond the world. All she had to do was to create portals to summon them.

Zceryll created the portals and summoned the star spawn to her aid. She fought back against her oppressors, finding a newfound purpose in her life. She traveled the world, creating many portals for her masters and items of her own devising.

Zceryll was unaware of the slow corruptive effect the star spawn had on her. By the time she realized something was wrong, it was too late to change. Eventually, her body became so suffused with alien power that she became one of them. When her life came to an end, she was a twisted and bitter old hag. She felt she had accomplished nothing and became obsessed with youth. When her time was up, her soul vanished into the far realms, and she became a vestige.

As a vestige, Zceryll, now a phantom twisted alien entity, seeks to exert as much influence over the Realms as possible. She has whispered clues to those who bind her in an effort to guide them to the location of artifacts and items she created, such as the bone scepter of Zceryll (in the Well of Dragons), the star-spawn scepter, the aberrant spheres, the black blood kaleidoscope, and the rod of Taupanga.

Special Requirement: You must summon Zceryll within sight of a mirror.

Manifestation: The area in and around the seal fills with thousands of tiny circular mirrors. A beautiful human woman is reflected in all of the mirrors, yet something is off about her features. After a few seconds, a scream is carried on the air and the image of the woman changes into a hideous mass of writhing tentacles. The mirrors then shatter, covering the floor with beautiful but alien patterns of glass that hurt the mind and cause the nose, mouth, eyes, and orifices to bleed black blood.

Sign: Your eyes appear as circular mirrors. In your peripheral vision, all other living creatures appear twisted, covered in tentacles, extra eyes, and vestigial organs.

Influence: Never admit that you need help or that you are weaker than anyone else. Treat those that are weaker than you with scorn and contempt, especially young women and arcane spellcasters.

Granted Features: While bound to Zceryll, your body and mind become alien, allowing you to channel the power of the star spawn in a variety of ways.

Alien Mind: Your mind is alien and does not work like that of a normal mortal. You are immune to mind-altering effects.

Alien Form: While bound to Zceryll, you gain the following features from your alien form.

• True Strike: You can use a bonus action to grant advantage on the next attack roll you make.
• Resistance: You have resistance to necrotic and poison damage.
• Damage Reduction: Bludgeoning, slashing and piercing damage you take from non-magical weapons is reduced by 3.
• Spell Resistance: Foes suffer disadvantage to hit you with spell attack rolls.
• Alternate Form: You take on the appearance of some grotesque, gruesome form. While in this form, you gain a +1 bonus to AC, and you have advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks. You can suppress or activate this feature as an action.

Telepathy: You gain telepathy with a range of 100 feet. You can communicate telepathically with other creatures within range that can speak at least one language, although you need not share a language. You can detect the presence of creatures with an Intelligence score of 1 or higher within this range. You also perceive the creatures' type and Intelligence score, but not its exact location.

Bolts of Madness: You can use your action to fire a ray at a creature within 300 feet of you. Make a ranged spell attack against the creature, and on a hit, the target is paralyzed for 1d4 rounds.

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.

Monstrous Spirits: You can use your action to summon (as the respective summon spell) one spirit from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, choosing from the following Spirits: Aberrant, Bestial, Celestial, Construct, Elemental, Fey, Fiendish, Shadow and Undead. 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.

When you summon a spirit with this feature, it is treated as if you expended a 9th level spell slot for determining the spirit's game statistics. The spirit gains the benefits of your Alternate Form feature, and it cannot suppress that feature. It appears as a monstrous version of the spirit when summoned.

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