To a god, belief is an acceptance of their philosophy and ideas, and also a confidence the god will still be there tomorrow. This faith is self-fulfilling; so long as you believe, the god will be. If you forget, then it won’t.

To a forgotten god, belief is something much different. It is the futile, desperate hope that things will change. Bereft of evidence or proof, belief is all that is left. To a forgotten god, belief is the hope that you will bring it back to life.

Remember more below, with the Forgotten God warlock!

Warlock-ForgottenGod-v2

Or click here for the PDF!

 

Gods are intrinsic parts of reality, as critical to existence as the laws of magic and physics themselves. So what happens when a god dies? A wound opens, an absence in the world. They become the faceless statue, lying in the dust. Or the old joking tradition, only half-followed.

A forgotten god is a piece of the world that is no longer there, while all the rest moves on without it.

Features:

• Lost Domain grants you some powers relating to your Patron’s former divine self. (Also, do they remember where they were when they lost it?)
• You can also use Channel Memory to call upon your Patron’s lingering power, fueling a beguiling Absence in the mind of your victim.
• Once your Patron has gained more power, they can also use that Returning Power to allow you the Channel Divinity option they once granted to their faithful clerics, allowing you to Channel Memory for those effects as well!
• In time, the Desperation of the Forgotten becomes so strong that your Patron refuses to let you die easily. You would too, rather than drifting back to the void of nonexistence once again.
• Finally, even after their power returns you can channel the dread Banefire of their former state, erasing a creature so thoroughly that it ceases to exist prior to your obliteration of it!
• You can also choose new invocations allowing you to call a Lost Angel to your side or take up arms as a Crusader for a Fallen God!

 

Design Notes:

• To begin, go read Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. The Discworld series is one of the best fantasy series ever written, and that book in particular has a lot to do with this subclass. In a bit more humorous a way, but still. Turtle god antics ensue.
• I always liked this one. It has a cool vibe to it, and a good set of mechanics. There were a few issues though, which I’ve fixed as described below.
  • The name change on Channel Memory is actually a huge deal which ensures there’s no weirdness between it and the cleric’s Channel Divinity. Different names mean no multiclassing confusion, which is always good.
  • I also tweaked some invocations to make sure this warlock couldn’t end up with more uses of Channel Memory than a cleric has of Channel Divinity at the same level. That was unintended and not something I liked. A subclass themed after another class should never surpass the original (lookin’ at you, WotC theurgy wizard).
  • And lastly, the problem child Balefire Banefire. I love the feature, I really do, but its mild brand of time travel is still very complex. I’ve fixed this by splitting the feature between a reaction and an action, in an attempt to ensure that players must call out their intents at the time, and thus record what the effects of a success would be at the time as well. Is it simple? Still no. But it’s better, and much more manageable for a DM (I hope).
• Other than those issues though, nothing much has changed! I guess a rework of the capstone is pretty serious, but the main subclass itself hasn’t changed orientation, mechanics, or flavor. And, in the end, I’m happy with it.

Let me know what you think!