Warlock - Infernal Engine Patron

by somanyrobots

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Warlock Patron

Infernal Engine

Some warlocks make pacts with terrifying demons, or with fearsome lords of the Hells. But within the depths of those brutal planes, stranger beings can be found - war machines dating to the early days of an eternal conflict, great engines imbued with fiendish intelligence and a malevolent hunger. Long-forgotten though these hellish constructs might be, they may still find value in granting power to misguided mortals.

Infernal Engine warlocks may be any alignment, which may surprise some. But Infernal Engines tend to be such alien beings, their motivations may be fully inscrutable. Followers of an Infernal Engine are nearly always seekers of forbidden or lost knowledge, though whether they draw on a noble's resources or a pauper's desperation can vary.

Infernal Engine Features

Warlock Level Feature
1st Expanded Spell List, Hellforged Steel
6th Blood and Fire
10th Siege Warlock
14th Hellfire Machine

Expanded Spell List

The Infernal Engine 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.

Warlock Level Spells
1st burning hands, devil's daggerS
3rd heat metal, stream of flameSDS
5th fire cycloneK, summon fell machineS
7th fire shield, wall of fire
9th alter metalS, incinerateSDS

Spells marked with an S are by somanyrobots, spells marked with a SDS are from Spells That Don't Suck, and spells marked with a K are by KibblesTasty. All are included at the end of this document.

Hellforged Steel

At 1st level, you can transform a suit of armor into smoldering infernal mail. As a bonus action, touch a suit of armor worn by a willing creature to transform it. This smoldering armor functions as medium armor with which you are automatically proficient. At 1st level, it grants an AC of 13 + the wearer's Dexterity modifier (max 2). At 6th level, this improves by 1 to AC 14. At 10th level, it improves again to AC 15. It retains any magic bonuses it had, adding it to those AC formulas.

The first time a creature hits the armor's wearer with a melee attack, they take 1d6 fire and 1d6 piercing damage. The armor regains this capability at the start of the wearer's next turn. You can remove the infernal enchantment on the armor as a bonus action. Only one suit of armor can be affected by this ability at a time.

Blood and Fire

At 6th level, you gain a special understanding of your patron's many brutal methods. When you deal fire damage on your turn, if the next instance of damage you deal is piercing, you may add your proficiency bonus to the result. When you deal piercing damage on your turn, if the next instance of damage you deal is fire, you may add your proficiency bonus to the result.

You may only deal bonus damage in this way once per turn.

Siege Warlock

At 10th level, all your spells and any creatures you summon deal double damage to objects.

Additionally, you gain resistance to fire damage and immunity to fire damage from your own spells.

Hellfire Machine

At 14th level, your patron is able to grant you a fragment of its power on command. As an action, you can conjure a mighty siege engine, which crushes your foes' spirits and bodies. The siege engine appears in a space you can see within 30 feet, as if it were a Large creature. It is invulnerable to damage and immune to all conditions, and has a walking speed of 20 feet. You must concentrate to maintain the engine, as if you were concentrating on a spell.

At the start of each of your turns, you can command the engine to move in a direction of your choice. Any creature it moves through must make a Dexterity saving throw, suffering 2d12 piercing and 1d6 fire damage on a failure or half as much on a success. Any object it collides with takes twice as much damage.

Creatures of your choice within 10 feet of the engine gain resistance to fire damage, and as long as they have one free hand, can grab onto the engine during their turn to move with it when it moves.

Your Hellfire Machine disappears after 10 minutes. You can summon the engine once, regaining the ability after a long rest.

Infernal Engine quirks

The following are some optional quirks for a player of this subclass to choose from.

d6 Quirk
1 You have pieces of black iron permanently grafted into your skin.
2 Any metal you touch starts to glow a dull, angry red.
3 When you cast spells, a distant sound of clanging metal and human screams can be heard.
4 Sometimes you accidentally refer to your companions as fleshlings, meatbags, or weak-insects-to-be-crushed.
5 Floating cinders are visible inside your eyes.
6 You feel a deep satisfaction when you encounter ruined cities or destroyed buildings.

Appendix: Spells

Alter Metal

5th-level transmutation (ferromancy)

  • Classes: Wizard
  • Casting Time: 1 minute
  • Range: 30 feet
  • Components: V, S
  • Duration: Instantaneous

You point at a nonmagical metal object within range and dramatically change its properties. The object must be Huge or smaller, and can't be worn or carried. You can manipulate it in any number of the following ways:

  • You can stretch or compact it. You can halve its size, double its size, or anything in between. Its weight does not change, nor does the actual quantity of metal.
  • You turn it into another metal of similar value.
  • You can reshape it into another object of similar size.
  • You can alter its strength, reducing its hit points to one-quarter or increasing them to four times the original.

Devil's Dagger

1st-level conjuration (ferromancy)

  • Classes: Sorcerer, Wizard
  • Casting Time: 1 action
  • Range: 30 feet
  • Components: V, S
  • Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You conjure a cursed dagger of smoldering iron and hurl it at a creature within range. Make a ranged spell attack roll. On a hit, the target takes 2d4 fire and 1d4 piercing damage, and the dagger embeds itself in their flesh. While the dagger is embedded, the first time on each of its turns the target makes an attack roll, they must roll 1d4. They subtract the result from the attack roll and suffer that much fire damage. A creature within 5 feet of the target can remove the dagger as an action.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the initial fire damage dealt increases by 2d4 for each slot level above 1st.

Fire Cyclone

3rd-level conjuration

  • Classes: Druid, Sorcerer, Wizard
  • Casting Time: 1 action
  • Range: 90 feet
  • Components: V, S, M (a pinch of ashes from a forest fire)
  • Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Targeting a point on the ground you can see, you cause a cyclone made of whipping flames to fill a 10-foot-radius, 30-foot-high cylinder.

Creatures that are inside the spell when you cast it or enter it for the first time on a turn must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed saving throw, it takes 3d6 fire damage and is flung 15 feet upwards and lands 15 feet in a randomly determined horizontal direction. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage and is not flung.

When a creature is not entirely inside the cyclone's radius but within 30 feet of its center at the start of its turn, it still feels the intense draw of the raging cyclone, and must spend 2 feet (or 3 feet if it is flying) of movement for every 1 foot it moves away from the cyclone.

For the duration of the spell, you can spend an action to move the cyclone up to 30 feet in any direction along the ground.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 and the height of the cyclone as well as the distance a creature is thrown upward increases by 5 feet for each level above 3rd.

Incinerate

5th-level evocation

  • Classes: Sorcerer, Wizard
  • Casting Time: 1 action
  • Range: 90 feet
  • Components: V, S
  • Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You channel agonizing flames, wreathing a creature you can see within range. At the start of each of its turns, the target must make a Dexterity saving throw, suffering 10d6 fire damage on a failure. On a success, it takes half as much damage and the spell ends for that creature. While a target is on fire, it casts bright light for 30 feet and dim light for an additional 30 feet.

As a bonus action, you can spread the flames from any targeted creature to another within 10 feet of it, making that creature an additional target. If damage from this spell reduces a target to 0 hit points, the target is turned to ash.

Infernal Shackles

2nd-level conjuration

  • Classes: Wizard
  • Casting Time: 1 action
  • Range: 60 feet
  • Components: V, S, M (a link from a chain burned in a fire that killed at least one creature)
  • Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Chains of burning black iron spring from the ground and attempt to bind a creature you can see within range. The target creature must make a Strength saving throw. On failure, it takes 3d6 fire damage and its movement speed is reduced to zero for the duration of the spell. On success, they take half as much damage and are not bound.

At the end of each of their turns, the target repeats its saving throw. On a success, the chains broken and the spell ends for that target. On a failure, it remains bound and takes an additional 2d6 fire damage as it is seared by the chains.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell with a 3rd level spell slot or higher, you can target an additional creature for each spell slot level above 2nd.

Stream of Flame

2nd-level evocation

  • Classes: Sorcerer, Wizard
  • Casting Time: 1 action
  • Range: Self (30-foot line)
  • Components: V, S, M (a drop of oil)
  • Duration: Instantaneous

A gout of flame projects from your hand in a direction you choose. Each creature in a 30 feet long and 5 feet wide line must make a Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 4d8 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

The flames ignite any flammable objects in the area that aren't being worn or carried.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 and the range of the line increases by 5 feet for each slot level above 2nd.

Summon Fell Machine

3rd-level conjuration

  • Classes: Wizard
  • Casting Time: 1 action
  • Range: 60 feet
  • Components: V, S, M (a statuette made of hellforged steel, worth at least 300gp)
  • Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour

You conjure fiendish energy and cursed materials from the hells and sculpt it into a loathsome construct, appearing in an unoccupied space you can see within range. It uses the Fell Machine Spirit stat block, and you select either the Flesh, Iron, or Adamantine option when you cast the spell. The creature disappears when it drops to 0 hit points or when the spell ends.

The creature is an ally to you and your companions. In combat, it shares your initiative count, and takes its turn immediately after yours. It obeys your verbal commands. If you don’t issue any command, it takes the Dodge action and moves only to avoid hazards.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, certain values increase in its stat block.

Fell Machine Spirit

Medium Construct

  • Armor Class 11 + the level of the spell (natural armor, Flesh) or 13 + the level of the spell (natural armor, Iron & Adamantine)
  • Hit Points 35 + 15 for each spell level above 3rd (Flesh) or 25 + 10 for each spell level above 3rd (Iron & Adamantine)
  • Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
18 (+4) 10 (0) 16 (+3) 6 (-2) 10 (0) 10 (0)
  • Condition Immunities charmed, frightened
  • Senses passive Perception 10
  • Languages understands the languages you speak
  • Proficiency equals your bonus

Dissolving Rage (Flesh Only). When the fell machine starts its turn below half its maximum hit points, it goes berserk. It gains advantage on all its attacks, but loses 5 hit points at the end of its turn if it does not attack anything.

Cursed Adamantine (Adamantine Only). Any critical hits against the fell machine become normal hits, and any creature it hits is cursed until the start of the fell machine's next turn, taking 7 (2d6) additional damage from any critical hits.

Actions

Multiattack. The fell machine makes a number of attacks equal to half this spell's level (rounded down).

Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: your spell attack modifier to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d8 + 4 + the spell's level bludgeoning damage.

Infernal Drill (Iron Only). Melee Weapon Attack: your spell attack modifier to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d4 + 4 + the spell's level piercing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 10 + the spell's level). The fell machine can't use its Infernal Drill against another target while it has one grappled. The Infernal Drill deals 2d4 additional fire damage against targets grappled with it.

Changelog

v0.6

  • Replaced Infernal Shackles with Stream of Flame (Shackles got added to the warlock list, it was previously wizard-only).

v0.5.1

  • Fixed browser-related formatting errors

v0.5

  • Fixed a weird edge case about transforming an enemy's armor

v0.4

  • A couple bitty little fixes to Hellforged Steel

v0.3

  • Added duration to Hellfire Machine (bugfix, not balanace change)

v0.2

  • Clarification & rename to Hellgolem Spirit
  • Rephrased Fire and Blood to achieve actual intent
  • Swapped Iron Garden for Fire Shield

v0.1

  • Rough Draft
Credits & References:

Spells

  • Alter Metal, Devil's Dagger, Summon Fell Machine by somanyrobots
  • Incinerate, Stream of Flame by somanyrobots & Omega Ankh
  • Fire Cyclone by KibblesTasty

Art

  • Cityscape Leveler, by Leon Tukker © Wizards of the Coast LLC

Background Image Stains

Licensing

All rules & spell text in this document is licensed as CC-BY, under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC-BY). Broadly, it can be republished freely or incorporated into commercial works as long as credit is given to the original creators.

The document in its entirety, including artwork, is licensed under WotC's Fan Content Policy, included below.

Includes spells from Spells That Don't Suck by Omega Ankh and somanyrobots, which is licensed CC-BY and available here.

Includes spells from Kibbles' Casting Compendium 2.0 by KibblesTasty Homebrew LLC, which is licensed CC-BY and available here.

Fan Content Policy

This work is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.