The Parasitic Host (5e Subclass)
The Parasitic Host[edit]
Warlock Subclass
Out in the vast ends of the universe, a mass of plague, disease and filth has grown. Collecting the universes many negatives and forming its very own consciousness. Becoming a self made god, that now sends out many of its insects to take over and eat away on the consciousness of the chosen ones to grant power to its eldritch god. The host however, is painfully aware of their situation, but wherever they accept their power, or try to find a way to deny it, is up to them.
Expanded Spell List[edit]
The Parasitic host lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.
| Spell Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | cause fear, ray of sickness |
| 2nd | wither and bloom, fiend flesh |
| 3rd | animate dead, speak with dead |
| 4th | blight, giant insect |
| 5th | geas, insect plague |
| 6th | harm |
Pest Takeover[edit]
Starting at the 1st level, your body is slowly being taken over by insects that seemed to suddenly appear one day. For now, they seem to merely be eggs, but as time goes on, they will grow. You gain a new feature of this ability first at level 6, then at level 10, 14 and finally level 20.
Rotten Existence[edit]
Your skin is seemingly turning pale and itchy. Starting at the 1st level, when a creature makes direct contact with your skin, they take 1d4 poison damage. This increases to 2d4 at level 6, and 3d4 at level 14, additionally, you gain resistance to poison damage.
Pest Takeover, Early stages[edit]
Starting at the 6th level, the eggs in your body have hatched and are now insects. Your body has become the host for a swarm of insects. Choose one of the swarm of insects to represent this infestation (you may choose to replace the type of insect with a suitable alternative, such as flies for wasps or worms for beetles). As an action, you can choose to take 4d4 piercing damage as the swarm of insects pierce through your skin. The swarm is controlled by you and has its turn right after yours. If the swarm is to die, you can use your reaction to take another 2d4 piercing damage as it burrows back into your skin, otherwise the insects die and it takes you 1d4 days for new ones to hatch.
Pest Takeover, Middle Stages[edit]
Starting at the 10th level, the insects gain the ability to spread sickness and disease. You can, as a bonus action to cast the cloudkill spell cantered on yourself. You can use this feature again after a long rest. Additionally, you ignore the negative effects of being poisoned, and instead gaining a +1 Charisma ability score bonus while being under the poisoned condition remains.
Pest Takeover, Late Stages[edit]
Starting at the 14th level, the insects are able to live for awhile even without a host. During a long rest, you can choose to extract 1d4 + 1 insects from your inner swarm. These insects follow any simple commands you give them. They cannot do damage directly. They have an individual AC of 10 and has HP equal to double your proficiency bonus. If the insects find a live creature, they can burrow into them and start to lay eggs which takes 1 hour. The eggs will hatch in 1d4 days and when done so will try to take over the mind of the infected individual. Until the host has extracted the main insect, which is noticeably bigger than the rest, they have to roll a wisdom saving throw every hour. The saving throw DC is equal to your saving throw DC. If they fail the DC, they are completely controlled by you for as long as you wish. The creature acts as if under the effect of the dominate person spell. however they do not repeat any saving throws after taking damage. The insects can be removed using a 24 hour, full-body cleansing or by other magical means such as the greater restoration spell or the wish spell.
Pest Takeover, Final Stages[edit]
Starting at the 20th level, the insects now have become one with their host, which grants the host a number of benefits. For one, the host can choose 1 spell from their spell list of 3rd level or below to cast as a bonus action. They can also focus on 2 spells at once, and taking damage only breaks concentration of 1 at the time. The swarm of insects in your body takes damage for you. At the start of combat, you can use your reaction to gain temporary hit points equal to double your warlock level.
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