The Ur’Shakthu Patron
Warlock Subclass — Homebrew for Heretics of the Old Gods
Overview
Your patron is Ur’Shakthu — an ancient and vast entity coiled beneath the Hellcatch desert, old enough to have felt the gods’ departure and patient enough to have spent the centuries since filling the vacuum they left. To the faithful of the storm cult that has grown around its name, Ur’Shakthu is a deity. You know better. What you serve is not a god. It is something older and more deliberate than that, with specific needs and a long memory and the particular patience of something that measures time in geological terms.
Ur’Shakthu chose you because you are useful. It communicates through impressions and directives that arrive with the authority of certainty — you know what it wants without being told how it knows what you know. Its agenda is its own. What it has shared with you is this: the Luxon missionaries who have arrived in the Hellcatch carry objects of immense magical power, and Ur’Shakthu wants them. Your job is to get close enough to find out where they are.
The power Ur’Shakthu grants you is not lightning and thunder. That is what it shows the faithful. What it gives you is something more surgical — the ability to move unseen, read minds, and eventually to reach inside a person’s thoughts and take the wheel. You are not a worshipper. You are an instrument. The distinction is one Ur’Shakthu does not acknowledge and you would be unwise to raise.
Patron Spells
| Warlock Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 3 | Disguise Self, Witch Bolt |
| 5 | Zone of Truth, Silence |
| 7 | Lightning Bolt, Hypnotic Pattern |
| 9 | Modify Memory, Storm Sphere |
| 11 | Dominate Person, Chain Lightning |
Features
Level 3: Read Thoughts
You can sense the surface thoughts of any creature within 30 feet of you. This requires no action, no spell slot, and no components. A creature is unaware of this sensing unless you probe deeper. You may attempt to access a creature’s deeper thoughts a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier per long rest. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or you access their deeper thoughts as per the Detect Thoughts spell.
Level 3: Undercover Agent
You gain proficiency in Deception and Stealth. If you are already proficient in Deception, you gain Expertise in Deception instead. Alternatively, you may forgo these proficiencies to gain proficiency with the Disguise Kit and Forgery Kit instead.
Level 6: Disappear into Shadows
You can cast Invisibility on yourself without expending a spell slot a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, regaining all uses on a short or long rest.
Level 10: Shadow Walk
As a Bonus Action, you can teleport up to 60 feet from one area of dim light or darkness to another area of dim light or darkness that you can see. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, regaining all uses on a short or long rest.
Level 14: Psychic Brand
When you use Read Thoughts to probe a creature’s deeper thoughts and they fail the Wisdom saving throw, you permanently brand their mind. You can have a number of creatures branded simultaneously equal to your Charisma modifier. You always know the location of branded creatures, can hear their surface thoughts at any distance, and can communicate with them telepathically regardless of distance. The brand persists until the creature dies or you choose to release them.
As a Magic action, you can expend a spell slot to attempt to dominate a branded creature you can sense. The creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be under your control for up to 1 minute, as per the Dominate Person spell. Only one creature can be dominated at a time. At the end of each of their turns they may repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on a success.