The Godslayer (5e Subclass)

The Godslayer

Warlock Subclass

Your patron has slain a god. More than one, probably. While never mortal itself, it took exception to some deity and dedicated its life to destroying that god or goddess. What is a creature to do once it has achieved its life-long goal of killing that which cannot be killed? Do it again. And probably again. Eventually it saw itself as equal -- if not better than -- its quarries. So, like its prey before it, the godslayer sought out worshipers.

Only there were no worshippers to be found. The slayer had created a rift in the order of things, not filled one. So it did the next best thing; it sought minions.

The slayer had harnessed immeasurable power in order to accomplish its murderous intent and immeasurable more from its successes. The slayer offered a taste of that power to mortal creatures that served it. The first pact or two were watched carefully, always under the slayer's thumb, but the more pacts the slayer made, the harder it was to keep up with. Most godslayer pacts come with only occasional strings attached, but otherwise are left to live their own lives and pursue their own endeavors. But woe unto the Godslayer Warlock that denies his patron's whim.

The whims of godslayers typically surround dieties: disrupt ceremonies, hunt down specific deities' clerics, find artifacts related to some deity, or whatever else the DM might imagine.

Godslayers' Corrupted Spells

The Godslayer grants you access to corrupted versions of what are typically divine spells. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you, including the listed changes. Any spell mentioning a divine symbol can instead use an arcane focus.

Spell Level	Spells & Changes
1st	bless: attacks that would have missed without the added d4 add that roll in necrotic damage	heroism: manifests as brazen arrogance
2nd	warding bond: works backward, granting you the bonuses and resistance and damaging the ally.	spiritual weapon: resembles a broken weapon related to a god
3rd	crusader's mantle: arrogance instead of holy power radiates; extra damage is necrotic	spirit guardians: spirits resemble undead clerics in chains; damage is necrotic
4th	aura of purity: creatures benefiting from the aura cannot cast spells that use a divine symbol as the material component	guardian of faith: guardian's symbol appears as something its targets believe in; damage is necrotic
5th	contagion: if a disease is inflicted, instead of choosing one, roll 2d6 to randomly select 2 (or 1 if doubles)	mass cure wounds: do not add your Charisma modifier to the healing unless the creature is within 5 feet of a creature that has dealt them damage, in which case add double your Charisma modifier

Renouncer

You do not fear the divine. Not anymore. Your patron freed you of that. When you form your pact at 1st level, you become resistant to radiant damage. You also have advantage to save against any spell cast with a divine symbol as a material component.

Corrupted Flame

Also at 1st level, you learn the cantrip sacred flame, but a corrupted version of it with black flames and accompanied by faint wails of suffering. It deals necrotic damage instead of radiant.

You can cast this as a bonus action a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). You regain one bonus action casting when you finish a short rest and all of them when you finish a long rest.

Audacity

At 6th level, when an attack roll is made against you, you can use your reaction to act simultaneously with your attacker. Your reaction can accomplish one of three things:

• Cast a cantrip (other than eldritch blast) at the attacker.
• Reduce the attack roll by 1d4, possibly turning a hit into a miss
• Give yourself temporary hit points equal to your twice charisma modifier (minimum 2) until the start of your next turn

If you are reduced to zero hit points by an attack that triggered this reaction, you can choose to instead drop to 1 + your charisma modifier hit points (minimum 1) at the expense of losing your ability to use another Audacity reaction until you finish a long rest.

Unbending

Starting at 10th level, you refuse to be subjected to anyone's whims. When you fail a saving throw to resist the conditions charmed, frightened, or poisoned, you can use your reaction to succeed instead as long as you did not have disadvantage on the saving throw. You can do this a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, regaining all uses at the end of a long rest.

Trifles of Godlings

At 10th level, the smaller powers lost by slain gods begin to trickle down to the hands of the godslayer's minion. Whenever you finish a long rest, roll 2d4. You gain a spell slot matching the level of each of the rolls. These spell slots can only be used to cast Pact Spells and do not return after a short rest.

Heretic

Also at 13th level, you learn a corrupted version of a 6th and a 7th level spell from the cleric spell list (from any school except necromancy) in addition to the Mystic Arcanum you already know. You can use the appropriate level's Mystic Arcanum to cast your Heretic spells, but you also gain a Heretical Arcanum that can be used to cast either Heretic spell at its base level. Like Mystic Arcanum, you regain your Heretical Arcanum at the end of a long rest.

Examples of corrupted cleric spells are below; you may use these or work with your DM to corrupt another. In all cases, radiant damage should change to necrotic.

Examples of Corrupted Spells

Spell Level	Spell	Corruption(s)
6th	find the path	The path is marked with dying vegetation, the stench of decay, and otherworldly ooze.
6th	heal	The healed creature looks sickly and sallow.
6th	word of recall	Instead of a location related to a deity, the sanctuary must be somewhere you delivered a killing blow.
7th	conjure celestial	A fallen celestial is summoned. Any wings the summoned creature has are like bat wings and radiant damage becomes necrotic.
7th	divine word	The uttered word is instead blasphemous. Inflicted conditions manifest as horrific sights/sounds.
7th	regenerate	The healing leaves permanent, disfiguring scars. Regrown limbs are discolored and awkward-looking (but function normally).

When you reach a level in this class that grants the Ability Score Improvement feature, you can replace one Heretic spells with another corrupted cleric spell of the same level.

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