Contents

Accursed Genesis

The faculty granted to dusksworn can come from a variety of sources. These powers might have been thrust upon you by a god without your say in the matter, or they were awakened by a traumatic event. No matter how you gained them, the might you wield forever tarnishes you in the eyes of others.

To add some backstory to your dusksworn, roll or pick one origin from the Dark Origin table, or create your own. It has no game effect, but fleshes out the source of your character's powers. They're a great role-playing tool to add character to the game. Then consider why your character your character was given their newfound powers. Do they have any bearing on your character's personality and background?

Creating a Dusksworn

As you create your dusksworn character, consider how their powers came to be, and how others interact with them. Did you naturally come upon the wicked powers you possess, or was it bestowed upon you by an evil deity?

Moreover, what goals does your character have? Do they wish to embrace the darkness within them, or do they desire to become a figure of justice despite their malevolent origins?

Lastly, while the dark powers that dusksworn wield are conflated with evil, they aren't always of evil alignment. Most use their powers just to make ends meet, or live another day.

Class Features

As a dusksworn, you gain the following class features.

As an action, you can touch a creature and expend any number of remaining ruin dice from your pool, rolling them and dealing necrotic damage to the target equal to the total result of all the dice rolled.

You can have a single weapon bonded to you at a time with this feature. If you attempt to bond with another weapon, you must break your bond with the other one.

The weapon stops being your shadowed weapon if you die, perform the 1-hour ritual on another weapon, or you perform the 1-hour ritual to break your bond to it.

Dusk-Infused Magic

You weave your infernal strength into your dusksworn spells. Add your Shadow Damage modifier to your dusksworn spell save DC and dusksworn spell attack modifier.

Mantle of the Wicked

Your Sundering Shadow manifests as a veil of darkness that surrounds you. As long as you are wearing armor and aren't wielding a shield, your Armor Class increases by an amount equal to your Shadow Damage modifier.

Shadow-Cursed Resilience

Whenever you take damage, subtract your Shadow Damage modifier from the amount of damage that is dealt to you.

Vile Tenacity

When you gain this feature, choose one ability score you don't have proficiency in saving throws with. You add your Shadow Damage modifier to any saving throws you make that use the chosen ability score.

Invoke Malice Options

When you reach 3rd level, choose one of the options shown below to learn. When you gain another level as a dusksworn, you can replace one Invoke Malice option you know with this feature with another option you could learn with this feature.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2 or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. Moreover, when you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use your Ruinous Touch in place of one of the attacks you make with it.

When you reach 10th level, your martial prowess allows you to add your dusksworn spells to any sequence of attacks that you make. Whenever you take the Attack action on your turn, you can use your Ruinous Touch or cast a dusksworn spell you know of 1st level or higher with a casting time of 1 action in place of one of the attacks you make with it.

Aura of the Dark Scion

When you reach 6th level, the darkest emotions (despair or hatred, for instance) within yourself manifest as an aura that you emanate and other creatures can sense. You gain one of the following features of your choice.

Unless specified otherwise, the range of each aura is 10 feet, and increases to 20 feet at 13th level and to 30 feet at 18th level.

Crownbreaker Principles

Crownbreakers typically (unknowingly) share the same set of core principles, while following the pledge's other precepts to varying degrees. This pledge places heavy importance on the freedom and independence of a dusksworn; no other precept is as paramount as a crownbreaker's ability to act as they will and express themselves without restraint.

Unfettered Individuality. Your freedom and the ability to express yourself is paramount. No compromises can be made to guarantee that you're free to act as your heart desires and if need be, you will ignore all other principles to achieve this.

Defy Authority. You are subservient to no one but yourself. The actions you take are of your own volition, never forced on you by others.

Law. The law is nothing more than a construct that exists to hold the weak in place. Do not be fettered by the shackles created by those who would inhibit your actions.

Responsibility. You must suffer the consequences of your actions accordingly, even if you ardently choose not to believe in the law or authority of others, or choose not to fulfill a duty or obligation you have undertaken. No matter how free you might be, you are not free from your actions' repercussions.

Pledge Spells

You gain pledge spells at the dusksworn levels listed.

Invoke Malice

When you take this pledge at 3rd level, you gain the following two Invoke Malice options.

Hellfire Knight

Hellfire knights are dusksworn who surrender themselves to the fires of eternal damnation in exchange for mastery of fire. Their shadowed weapons are always trailed by black flames that snuff out those who cross paths with them, whether the dusksworn desires it or not. Often, dusksworn who take this pledge meet fiery ends, consumed by the malefic pledge they undertook.

Searing Shadows

Starting at 3rd level when you first choose this pledge, you can change all of the necrotic damage that is dealt by your shadowed weapon or Ruinous Touch to fire damage when you deal damage to a creature using either of them.

In addition, whenever you score a hit with your shadowed weapon, you can change all of the fire damage that would be dealt to necrotic damage instead.

Additionally, you learn flame blade. It doesn't count against the number of dusksworn spells you know, and you can cast it once without expending a spell slot. Once you cast it this way, you can't cast it again this way until you finish a long rest. You can also cast it using a spell slot you have of the appropriate level.

Lastly, while you're under the effects of a flame blade spell, you gain the following benefits.

Favored Spell. Whenever you cast flame blade, you don't require concentration.

Instantaneous Summons. You can evoke the blade at any time on your turn (no action required) or as part of an attack while you aren't wielding a weapon that has the two-handed property, and can dismiss it at any time (no action required).

Umbral Flame. Whenever you score a hit with the blade, you can change the damage type of any of the blade's d6s to necrotic damage.

Aura of Hellfire

When you reach 7th level, you gain resistance to fire damage. Moreover, whenever a hostile creature within 10 feet of you is dealt damage, the creature takes additional fire damage equal to your Charisma modifier (a minimum of 1 damage).

A hostile creature only takes the additional fire damage if you're conscious and from only one Aura of Hellfire at a time.

The range of this aura increases to 20 feet at 13th level and 30 feet at 18th level.

Additionally, your growing mastery over fire provides you with more benefits while you're under the effects of a flame blade spell.

Multiattack. Whenever you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one of the attacks with an attack using the blade created with the spell. If the blade isn't in your hand and you have a free hand available, you can evoke it as part of that attack if you are wielding a weapon that doesn't have the two-handed property.

Ruinous Malefactor

When you reach 15th level, you're always under the effects of the flame blade spell. The fiery blade that is created with it is always under the effects of your Hellfire Knight features.

When you reach 20th level, the fiery blade you create is always evoked as though flame blade was cast at 4th level.

Fiery Desecration

At 20th level, you have reached the apex of your fiery might. You learn fire storm, befitting of your mastery over fire. It doesn't count against the number of dusksworn spells you know, and you can cast it without expending a spell slot. You must finish a long rest before you can do so again. Moreover, it gains the following benefits when you cast it this way.

Stunning Blast. When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one of the attacks you make with a blast of psychic energy, using your Invoke Malice. Each creature in a 15-foot cone must make an Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, a creature is stunned for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Frozen Apex

When you reach 20th level, appropriate for your mastery over the freezing cold, you learn the spells otiluke's freezing sphere and wall of ice. They don't count against the number of dusksworn spells you know and you can cast each of them without expending a spell slot. Once you cast a spell this way, you can't cast that spell again until you finish a long rest.

In addition, your Aura of Winter's Wrath is bolstered even more. The range bonus to the aura from Rime's Step is now permanent, and any fire damage that is dealt to a creature or object in the aura's range is halved unless its source ignores resistance or immunity to fire damage a creature or object has.

Lastly, using the aura enhancement from Rime's Step now doubles the range of your other Dusksworn auras, in addition to halving the speed of hostile creatures affected by your Aura of Winter's Wrath, for its duration.

Shadow Thane

Shadow thanes are dusksworn who focus on wielding the shadowed weapon they have bonded with, rather than the magic that they are capable of utilizing.

Diabolical Smite

Beginning at 3rd level, you can use your bonus action while it's your turn to expend a spell slot of 1st level or higher and infuse your shadowed weapon with fiendish might until the end of your turn. The next time you hit a creature with your shadowed weapon this way, the creature takes extra necrotic damage in addition to the weapon's damage and the infusion ends. The additional damage is 2d10 for a 1st-level spell slot, plus an additional 1d10 for each spell level higher than 1st, to a maximum of 6d10.

Alternatively, you can expend up to three ruin dice instead of a spell slot. When you do so, the additional damage equals the ruin dice expended; for instance, if you expend three ruin dice that are d6s, the additional damage on a hit is 3d6.

Aura of Malevolence

Starting at 7th level, you have resistance to necrotic damage. Additionally, hostile creatures that are within 10 feet of you lose resistance to necrotic damage and have disadvantage on saving throws that they make to avoid being frightened of you while you are conscious.

The range of this aura increases to 20 feet at 13th level and 30 feet at 18th level.

Greater Sundering Shadow

At 11th level, your shadowed weapon is infused with even greater malevolent darkness; when you hit a creature with your shadowed weapon, the creature is dealt an additional 1d8 necrotic damage.

Doomscourge

When you reach 15th level, you are capable of using your Diabolical Smite without expending a spell slot or ruin die. When you use it this way, your shadowed weapon deals an additional 3d10 necrotic damage on a hit. You can do so a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining expended uses when you finish a long rest. Whenever you finish a short rest, you also regain 2 expended uses of this feature.

Additionally, you deal half as much necrotic damage with your shadowed weapon, instead of no damage, to creatures and objects with immunity to necrotic damage, fueled by an all-consuming darkness that hungers for ruination.

Base Class

• [Flavor only] Added a noteblock on page 1 that provided alternative, setting agnostic names for the class's name.
• Saving throw proficiencies changed from Strength and Charisma to Constitution and Charisma.
• Invoke Malice options that affect a single type of creature now specify that they affect creatures (most relevant to Withering Command affecting plants, creatures or not).
• Extra Attack feature restricts the spells you can cast as part of the Attack action to dusksworn spells of 1st level or higher (specifically to lock out cantrips from the Lichblade malefic pledge).
• Aura of the Dark Scion now lets you pick from 4 different auras.
• 10th level feature name changed and allows you to pick from 4 different auras or one of the Auras from Aura of the Dark Scion.
• Aura Improvements now occurs at both 13th and 18th level instead of only once at 18th level (normal range > doubled range > tripled range).

Crownbreaker

• Slightly altered critical range level scaling.
• Armor Class penalty from Aura of the Crownslayer is now half of your Charisma modifier rounded up (min -1), range increased to 10/20/30 ft (from 5/15 ft).
• Radically altered 15th level feature; instead of being able to use your action to turn invisible for 1 minute, you turn invisible until the end of your next turn when you score a critical hit with your bonded weapon (ends early if you attack/cast a spell).

Hellfire Knight

• Damage type change for the bonded weapon/Ruinous Touch from necrotic > fire is no longer mandatory, now optional.
• Can now change any fire damage dealt by your bonded weapon (i.e. a flame tongue weapon) to necrotic damage.

Lichblade

• Aura now stops hostile creatures from regaining HP, in addition to blocking temp HP gain.

Mindscourge

• Damage type change for the Ruinous Touch (necrotic > psychic) is now optional.
• 11th level feature now grants an additional 1d4 psychic damage to bonded weapon/Ruinous Touch.

Rimebound

• Damage type change for the Ruinous Touch (necrotic > cold) is now optional.

• 11th level feature now grants an additional 1d4 cold damage to bonded weapon.

Shadow Thane

• Aura now also grants disadvantage on saving throws against being frightened of you to hostile creatures.

Base Class

• Changed starting equipment "(a) a shortsword or (b) any simple melee weapon" to "(a) 5 javelins or (b) any simple melee weapon."
• Moved Dark Inheritance feature to 3rd level.
• Can only cast spells with the Extra Attack feature using the Attack action starting at 10th level.