Mindsmith
A Mindsmith is an Artificer that has unlocked a more forbidden branch of tinkering - tinkering with sentient creatures minds. With the right push, prod, and magical impulse, the Mindsmith has found how to change and warp the minds of other creatures.
Frequently such profound knowledge leads down a dark path as they start to view the world around them as mere puppets to manipulated by their power, viewing the knowledge of how to command minds as the inalienable right to due so, and of all the Artificers these tend to find themselves on the path of evil most often, either holding the reigns to society an aspiring overlord or seeking to expose the charade that is civilization by exposing the darkness just waiting to happen in the minds around them.
Even with the best of intentions, people view this sort of technology with suspicion at best and terror at worst. The most educated and wordly sort tend to fear it the most, seeing the fingerprints of the terribly creatures of beyond such as the illithid in your strange powers.
Mindsmith Proficiency
When you choose this specialization at 1st level, you gain proficiency in Deception skill, as well as proficiency with thinker's tools.
Dominator's Device
At 1st level, you forge a potent device, capable of mental manipulation; this device can take the form of a circlet, a ring, or some other worn device.
Dominator
Requires Attunement (Creator Only)
While wearing this you can cast the friends cantrip and the psonic mind strike cantrip.
While wearing this device, you also gain telepathy, and able to communicate to a creature within 30 feet telepathically. You do not need to share a language, but the target must speak at least one language to be able to understand you.
If you dominator device (whatever its form) is ever lost or destroyed, you can remake a new one over the course of a long rest.
Bend Minds
At 3rd level, your expertise with the Dominator's Device grows, allowing you apply more flexible applications, enchanting and bending wills to your own. You learn the spells command and charm person and can cast them as 1st level spells at will, but once a creature saves against one of the spells cast by this feature, they immune to spells cast with this feature for 24 hours.
Crush Minds
Starting at 5th level, you've learned to deal with minds that aren't pliable to your commands, and you can crush them with far greater efficiency. When you deal psychic damage on your turn, you can add your Intelligence modifier to the damage dealt.
Additionally, a creature that you deal psychic damage to has disadvantage on its next Intelligence or Wisdom saving throw against your spell effects.
Dominate Follower
Starting at 14th level, you can cast dominate creature or dominate person on a target creature with a CR no higher than 1/4th your level (rounded down). If the creature fails the saving throw against this effect, the effect of the spell is permanent and does not require concentration to maintain. Once you attempt to dominate a creature with this ability, you cannot use it until you complete a long or short rest.
You can only have one dominated follower at a time, if you successfully this this ability on another creature while you already have a dominated follower, they are immediately freed of the effect, and will usually turn hostile.
Variant: Inspired Minion
While dominating a creature can certainly be useful, sometimes a Mindsmith has swayed minions to their side without the need for direct control.
Rather than having a dominated follower, at the end of the a long rest when you do not have a dominated follower, you can use your mental powers to subtly urge a loyal minion (any friendly creature) to greater heights granting the effect of heroism and immunity to charm effects. These effect does not require concentration, and lasts until you use this on another creature or use the dominate follower feature.
Upgrades
Benevolent Overlord. When a creature is charmed by you, you can use your reaction to grant it advantage on an attack or saving throw.
Borrow Knowledge. You enhance the refinement of the device in sifting through minds. When you charm a creature, you can pick up one thing of your choice it knew, one particularly piece of knowledge, one skill proficiency it has, one weapon proficiency it has, or one prepared spell it has (which you can then cast with your own spell slots). This knowledge lasts for one hour before fading.
Command: Die. Prequisite: 17th level Artificer You develop the ability to deliver a terrible command via your device - the command to a sentient mind to simply shut down. You can cast Power Word Death once without expending a spell slot.
Once you cast this spell, you cannot do so again until you complete a long rest.
Command: Live. Prerequisite: 11th level Artificer. You develop the ability to deliver a powerful command via your device, a command that lurks in the depths of the targets mind until the moment it faces death, and forces them to live on. You can cast death ward once without exptending a spell slot.
Once you cast this spell, you cannot do so again until you complete a long rest.
Compel Attack. You can use your device to compel another creature to make an attack against a creature within 5 feet of using its reaction. As an action, target a creature within 30 feet. It must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC, or us its reaction to attack a creature within 5 feet of it. A creature can choose to fail this saving throw if it wishes to make the attack.
Empowered Telepathy Preqrequisite: Ominous Telepathy. After a creature fails an Intimdation check against you when you are communicating with them telepathically, you can use a 1st level spell slot cast tasha's hideous laughter or dissonant whispers on them as a bonus action.
Psychic Arrow. You can warp your psonic power into an almost tangible form of pure energy; when you cast mind strike you can make a spell attack roll instead, bypassing the saving throw if you strike the target.
Induce Error. Prerequisite: 9th level Artificer. You can induce targets to behave strangely as you directly input bizarre mental signals into their heads. You can cast compulsion once without expanding a spell slot.
Once you've used this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a long or short rest.
Input Directive Prerequisite: 9th level Artificer. You learn to implant a directive into a target creatures mind. You can cast geas using your device without expended a spell slot.
Once you've used this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a long or short rest.
Inspire Zealotry. You configure your device to target a friendly mind, driving them to fight beyond all reason. As an action, you can cause them fight with superhuman zealotry ignoring pain and fatigue. For one minute, the target suppresses the status effects of stun, charm, incapacitated, exhaustion, and slow.
After this effects ends, the target gains on level of exhaustion and cannot be targeted again until they complete a long rest.
Ominous Telepathy When using your telepathic ability to make a Charisma (Intimidation) check, you have advantage on the roll. A creature that fails against this check becomes frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
Shatter Minds Preqreuisite: 9th level Artificer You have learned bludgeon minds with great force in an area. You cast the synaptic static spell using your device without expending a spell slot. Once you have cast this spell using this ability, you cannot cast it with this ability until you complete a long or short rest.
Subtle Influence. You manage a gentle touch with your influence; creatures targeted by your friends and charm person spells make a wisdom saving throw when the spell ends. If they fail this saving throw, they do not inherently know they were charmed.
Mental Repeater. Preqreuisite: 5th level Artificer You modify your device to easily store and reproduce commands you've just issued. If you have used Compel Attack or cast the command on a creature during your previous turn, you can do it again this turn as a bonus action, as long as you target the same creature.
Mental Manipulation Module. You build an expended set of commands into your device allowing it to interact with your Artificer spells. You can add any two enchantment spells of a level you can cast to your spell list, and cast these using spells slots using your device as an arcane symbol. These spells count as Artificer spells for you.
You can take this upgrade multiple times.
Psionic Spells
Mind Strike*
Psionic cantrip
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 60 feet
- Components: S
- Duration: Instantaneous
You point at one creature you can see within range, and a psychic bolt pierces its mind. The target must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw or take 1d10 psychic damage.
This spell's damage increase by one die when you reach 5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level (4d10).
*This spell is copied from Mike Mearl's Happy Fun Hour.
Art Credits
- Hive Mind (Magic the Gathering Card); Copyright Wizards of the Coast.