Warlock: Pact of the Burning Soul
Hit Points
Hit Dice: d8 per Warlock: Pact of the Burning Soul level
Hit Points at first Level:
Hit Points at Higher Levels:
Proficiences
Armor:
Weapons:
Tools:
Saving Throws:
Skills:
Subclass Options
Warlock: Pact of the Burning Soul
Progress has allowed the world to count its glories in new cities, discoveries and wonders, but sometimes it forgets to count the people progress costs. A small family is torn apart in the wheels of the machine that is a city, a simple village raided because its defence was low priority, some say the times when mortal heroes and champions could change the world by their deeds are long finished, and these are the price. But in the darkest despair, there is now the light of hope.No one knows when it started, but when people crushed too much by the world cry out for help that nobody will hear, sometimes something answers. Scholars have theorised it could be a response to the over compression of mortal spirit, an evolution to survive modern trials, or the interference of a yet unknown plane of existence, but around the globe the rumours and stories of new heroes writing wrongs by the power of burning soul are spreading like wildfire.
You have seen the darkness in this world and made a pact with this pure determination to correct what you could not alone. The Burning Soul is not sentient as such, but instead a magical fire fueled by the driving desire to change something in the world that sealed your pact, and act in accordance to the ideal that sparked them. The warlock unlocks the eldritch powers to achieve their goals seemingly innate within them, and strangely, can channel them most easily through the weapons of progress that nearly brought them to oblivion in the first place. This leads Warlocks of the Burning Soul to favour firearms, explosives and technology alongside their magics, bending the powers that caused their former helplessness to their own ends.
When taking this pact, you should decide what the fuel of your flames is: a desire to prevent an atrocity you have witnessed ever happening again, a dream to find a fabled utopia the darkness cannot reach, a need to protect the innocent from a growing threat, or a thirst for vengeance that drives your every step. The Burning Soul will burn on any fuel, so long as their determination be strong enough.
Eberron Note:
There are similarities between this subclass and stories and imagery of the Silver Flame, not only that the Burning Soul could manifest as a silver flame. In Eberron some scholars have compared not only the observable powers the two, but the history as well, drawing parallels between the trials of Tira Miron and the scenarios that seem to kindle the Burning Soul in people and suggesting that the Flame is nothing more than the first, or at least first recorded, example of the Burning Soul. Clerics of the Silver Flame have declared these theories heresy, reciting the eternal and divine nature of the Flame and labeling the Warlocks with Burning Souls that manifest as different colours at worst servants of the Shadow in the Flame, the Demon that Tira Miron died to seal.
When choosing this subclass in Eberron, it might be important to consider how those around you may react to the colour of your flame and what you believe of it. If you’re a devotee of the Silver Flame, does your Burning Soul manifest as silver and believe that it is the true flame moving through you? Or does it manifest a different colour and you believe it is the Shadow in the Flames trying to corrupt the world? Maybe your new colour marks the second coming of the Flame and a new era for the church?
Even if you are not of the Silver Flame faith yourself, consider how others who are would react to you, or how they have treated you in the past.
Expanded Spell List
- The Burning Soul let you choose from an expanded spell list when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are now available on the warlock spell list for you.
Burning Soul Expanded Spells
- 1st Compelled duel, Hunter's mark
- 2nd Zone of truth, Heat metal
- 3rd Spirit guardians, Crusader's mantle
- 4th Mordenkeinan's private sanctum, Fire shield
- 5th Hold monster, Greater restoration
By any means necessary
- You gain proficiency in Firearms and martial weapons. If you later take the Pact of the Blade feature, you may form simple firearms with it as well as melee weapons.
Burning Conviction
- At 1st level, your soul burns so strongly that sometimes it is even visible, protecting you from the slings and arrows of this world. As a bonus action you can fan the flames of determination within you to form a personal effect that keeps you safe, such as a glowing, fiery hat, a vest made of shimmering light, or a pair of glowing wings. When you manifest your soul as such, your armor class is 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Charisma modifier when not wearing armor or using a shield, and you shed bright light in a 10 foot radius around you, and dim light for an additional 10 feet. You can dismiss these flames as a bonus action. You lose this bonus if you don armor or pick up a shield.
Spark of determination
- Starting at 6th level, if any creature makes a melee attack against you, you can use your reaction to surge your burning soul out in front of you. The creature must succeed a Constitution saving throw or roll the attack again, choosing the lower roll, and be blinded until the end of your next turn. If Burning Conviction is active when you activate this ability, the creature takes radiant or fire damage equal to half your warlock level + your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) on a failed save, and half that damage on a successful save. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest.
Smouldering soul
- When you reach 10th level, your patron bestows upon you an unshakable conviction that can strike fear deep into the hearts of those who seek to inflict chaos and evil upon society. You are immune to being frightened, and when another creature attempts to frighten you or an ally within a 10 foot radius of you, you can use your reaction to brighten the flames within you momentarily, turning the frightening effect against them. The creature must succeed a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened by you for 1 minute. The creature can remake this saving throw to end the effects of this feature at the end of each of its subsequent turns.
Cleansing Fire
- At 14th level, you can channel your very soul into one of your strikes, dispelling the darkness in an instant and leaving nothing but ashes in its wake. As a bonus action, you can channel the flames within you into a powerful physical force. For 1 minute, you are surrounded by a fiery glow, and shed bright light within a 15 foot radius, and dim light within a 15 foot radius beyond that. When you next succeed a weapon attack while glowing in this way, you can choose to send forth the flames of justice into your attack, dealing an extra 5d10 radiant damage and 5d10 fire damage on a hit. The creature must them make a Constitution saving throw or be paralyzed until the end of your next turn. The light and magic then fades. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you complete a long rest.