Warlock, Pact Boon: RuneBinder

Overview & Creation

As magic has changed with this world, so has the way it is cast. In the place of a traditional Warlock is a RuneBinder, a similar class based on drawing power from a pact with one of the ancient deities tied with Old Magic, Arietera or Creatures of Chaos.

Every living creature born into the realms comes equipped with a bright, magical aura bound within them. The power of one’s aura is variable, based on origins, upbringing, alignment, and sometimes their race itself. Many choose to strengthen their auras through careful meditation, laborious training, or study. Some, however, decide to bind themselves with a deity of impossible magical capabilities, right down to their very souls.

RuneBinders, otherwise known as The RuneBound, take on a patron entity at the price of a pact, contract, or freedom. Patrons vary widely, and grant different abilities based on which you choose to align yourself with. A user will be marked with their patron’s Rune, a symbol unique to the entity and unknown to others, shared in secret with their chosen warlock, and granted power as the deity sees fit. Typically, this is in the form of spellcasting, but some deities grant beast shaping, aura bending, or ingredient-based magics.

The only creatures currently known to accept patronage are Arietera and Creatures of Chaos, two diametrically opposing forces of great power. Arietera protect the balance of the realms, specializing in two of the three elements and tasked with the eternal job of keeping harmony between them. They are enigmatic beings shrouded in myth, known by all but simultaneously known by none, and offer their partnership to the very lucky few they deem truly worthy. Creatures of Chaos reside in the deep, buried within the pits of the world, sealed away by the Goddesses at the world’s creation. But ever do they whisper, and if you so happen to catch a passing purr of demonic speech on the breeze, it may offer a bargain.

Class Features

At Level 1, create a pact with a patron entity. Gain an expanded spell list or added ability based on entity.   At Level 3, your patron will give you a unique Pact Boon, this is different for each deity.   Level 6 feat, Call: Take a moment to call upon your patron in the heat of battle and gain an extra attack action, once per long rest.   Level 10 feat, Fiendish Resilience: Starting at 10th level, you can choose one damage type when you finish a short or long rest. You gain resistance to that damage type until you choose a different one with this feature. Damage from magical weapons or silver weapons ignores this resistance.   Level 14 feat, Balance: Sway the tides in your favor and restore (or corrupt) balance for an instant. One d20 roll per long rest is automatically a success on a fail.

Starting Equipment

(a) a light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) any simple weapon

(a) a component pouch or (b) an arcane focus

(a) a scholar’s pack or (b) a dungeoneer’s pack

Leather armor, any simple weapon, and two daggers

Spellcasting Focus

Spellcasting

Saves = 8 + Proficiency bonus + your Aura modifier   Casting = Proficiency bonus + your Aura modifier   Spellcasting Focus You can use an arcane focus (see the Adventuring Gear section) as a spellcasting focus for your warlock spells.

Subclass Options

Pact Prerequisite:

One cannot simply select a patron being, one must be selected. Talk with your DM about your backstory and how you would like to work a deity into the campaign. Here are some example powers granted by different possible patrons:

- The Arietera of Earth and Sea, the great white Polar Bear, grants spells of frost and ice. Their Rune is placed on the shoulder, and when activated, brings upon a huge, ferocious bear claw of translucent, shimmering force, ice crystals dancing upon the fractured surface.

- A Chaos Creature adorned with a crown of horns, who refers to themselves as Xaocah, trades their patron a monstrous form in return for their immortal soul, which they consume upon their chosen’s demise. The gained were-state is similar to that of the Patron themselves, a towering bipedal form with cooled, cracked skin of volcanic rock and glowing red-hot claws, topped off with menacing horns in the visage of their forefather.

- The Arietera of Sky and Earth, the Dire Bat of the night sky, offers a rune designed to wrap down the user’s arm. This Patron requires the most skilled of archers before they can acquire their boon, the ability to conjure pure bolts of energy in place of arrows. Bolts of lightning, sticks imbued with vicious vines ready to entangle their target, shooting stars to fire upon the battlefield.

Pact Additions:

Best suited for any race, the more powerful an aura connection the better, but especially Kemmen.

Creatures of Chaos are especially drawn to Kelza.