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willel · 2 years

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Vecna story Lore

Found some cool lore about Vecna and his opponents.

Firstly, nothing is 1 to 1. They use dnd for inspiration though so I found some stuff that maybe could come into play?

Firstly, wanna establish some things. I believe I've found two characters who vaguely resemble Will and El. Also, I am not an expert in anyway on this game, I know about most of it through osmosis and reading on my own time.

The one I'm almost 100% positive on is Will = Elminster.

Elminster Aumar, also known as the "Sage of Shadowdale" and the "Old Mage", was one of the most famous and powerful wizards in all of Faerûn.

For all I can perceive, Elminster is very powerful and like a celebrity or something. I researched him before and while I found he never had any direct encounters with Vecna, players/fans of DnD speculate who is stronger than who in a match and Elminster is a aware of Vecna's power.

When I did my research a few months ago, I was looking for a lady mage that would fit El's description, but didn't truly find one. I mean, I did find one but it was kinda a stretch (and I was uncomfortable and annoyed that it was a previous romance of Elminster which gives me icky vibes and questioning why everybody has to screw everybody but anyways)

Elminster and Will are almost 1 to 1. Elminster was also once lost to an alternate dimension and held prisoner and had to be rescued by his friends.

Elminster realized that the only way to close the portal before legions of devils spilled forth into Toril was to close it from the other side. In the early hours of Hammer 1, 1372 DR, Elminster entered the portal and narrowly managed to close it, but at the expense of much of his magical strength. Once in Hell, he was abducted and enslaved by an outcast archdevil known as Nergal, who wished to discover the secret of Mystra's silver fire. Elminster was subject to brutal tortures, surviving only because of his exceptional endurance and ability to heal himself with silver fire. While the arch-fiend plundered Elminster's thoughts and memories, �� After much searching, the Simbul found him, and together they defeated Nergal and returned home.

But enough about Will. Today while digging through some Vecna v Elminster discussions, I saw the mention of a character named Mordenkainen.

Mordenkainen was a prolific archmage from the world of Oerth who was responsible for many powerful and useful spells.

Not a lady, but still relevant? I don't really know if this really holds up, but for the sake of this post, let's go with it. The important part is that Mord is a friend of Elminster and is part of a group called "the Circle of Eight" which was composed of other powerful mages. It does not appear that Elminster was part of this group.

Mordenkainen was a good friend of Elminster Aumar; the two met on numerous occasions at Ed Greenwood's house on Earth to exchange news from each other's worlds, as well as spells and lore.

Apparently, this Circle of Eight went against Vecna and while they were demolished, Vecna lost too.

Following the demise of the Circle of Eight at the hands of Vecna during the lich's first failed attempt at obtaining greater deity status, a grieving Mordenkainen was consoled by Elminster, as the wizards reflected on the fragility of their good deeds.

Mordenkainen later traveled to Barovia in an attempt to free the local population from its vampire darklord Strahd. However, he underestimated Strahd's power and, after barely surviving a confrontation with him, he lost his spellbook and his staff, eventually losing his memory and being driven to the brink of madness. He became known by the locals as the Mad Mage of Mount Baratok.

In the Year of the Scarlet Witch, 1491 DR, Mordenkainen, still suffering from bouts of madness, was in Waterdeep, where Storm Silverhand and Elminster were helping him to recover from them.

By the Year of Twelve Warnings, 1494 DR, Mordenkainen inhabited the Tower of Urm, a dwelling that he used as a vehicle to travel through the multiverse. He occasionally visited Avernus to study the effects of the Nine Hells over the schools of magic and to ensure the balance of the universe

Interesting huh? Again, don't look at this one to one. Just in general. If I were to speculate based on this information:

They're all going to go against Vecna and while he is defeated, they're going to suffer heavy loses. I'm not sure if it's gonna be death, but I think their team will get seriously injured this time.

I also believe El will be dealt a heavy blow. Maybe not lose her powers again, but maybe she starts having trouble with her mind? Memories? Amnesia again?

And this DEFINITELY won't happen because the Duffers hate writing family relationships, but I also take away from this that El would be helped by Will to keep her sanity/get her memories back/recover.

But yeah. that's all I got.

#stranger things #theory

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iironwreath · 1 year

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Common Ground [Ulysses]

Ulysses figured that if the succubus escaped, she’d be the second person to know—and then she wouldn’t know anything at all, because she’d be dead. Her curiosity was motivated by her will to live by appealing to Dicentra’s good side, but also existed nakedly and pure. She wanted to know more about Dicentra, plain and simple, and she was right there to ask.

“You said you don’t eat food or water,” Ulysses said the following day. “What do you live on, then? If anything.”

“Souls.”

“Is that a joke?”

“Am I laughing?”

“I dunno, you could have a good poker-face.”

Dicentra sighed, arcing horizontally across the cage so her other shoulder took her weight. Her legs and tail curled closer to her body. “I’m half-serious. I eat food for pleasure, but what we need to sustain ourselves is the life-force of mortals.”

Ulysses shrivelled backwards. “Does that happen…passively?”

“No. I need to do it.” Dicentra’s eyes fluttered shut. The shadows made the shallows under her eyes deeper. “Unless your wizard friend has a hidden stash of humans for me to drain, I’m going to wither.”

“So you’re like a vampire?”

Dicentra’s eyes flew open to glare at her. “No, I don’t drink blood. It’s not the same.” Her wing-stumps flexed reflexively behind her—an angry tic?—and she winced. She used her pain to infuse more heat into the glare. “Most living things break down some sort of sustenance for energy. You eating food and drinking water is a form of that; are you a vampire?”

“Not that I’m aware of.”

“You could pass for one, the way you dress. Or are you the victim who falls for the vampire’s seduction?”

It was Uly’s turn to glower.

—

“Does skin contact help with charming?”

“It makes no difference. I’m going to dispel your preconceived notions about succubi.” Dicentra paused. “And also probably confirm some others.”

“I don’t have that many,” Ulysses said, scratching their jaw. They’d been reading what they could find in Aldous’ archive. He probably had better information in his personal library. “Not because I don’t think of you in a stereotypical way, but because I don’t know much about fiends.”

“Do you think about me in a stereotypical way?” Dicentra asked.

“That’s for you to decide, I think.”

“Do you think I’d sleep with anything with a pulse?”

“Not really?”

“Then you have a head start.”

—

“Will they grow back?”

"You ask a lot of questions."

“You keep answering them. I’d make a shit apprentice if I didn’t ask questions. Not that he seems to think so. But if you’re telling me to fuck off, noted.”

Dicentra’s expression lost some of its edge. “They would, normally, if the bastard didn’t keep cutting them off.”

Ulysses pinched her lips and nodded—not just to acknowledge that they'd grow back, but that Aldous was, indeed, a bastard. She hoped that carried through. Dicentra nodded back.

—

“So,” Ulysses said, hands thrust deep in their pockets. “Gender.”

“What about it?”

“Aldous said you were a shapechanger,” Ulysses explained. “It got me wondering: are we misgendering you?”

Dicentra shook her head. “No. Our relationship with gender is as varied and complicated as yours. Our advantage comes from being able to change our bodies to match how we want to present, whether it be static or fluid or physically fluid even if our gender is static. I’m a woman, personally, but I have a sibling who’s very different from me.”

Ulysses’ brows ascended towards her hairline. “You can have siblings?”

Dicentra frowned; not with fury or malice, but regret. “Forget I said anything.”

“Do you miss them?”

“Annoyingly, yes.”

“I don’t have any siblings,” Uly said, hoping to ease the sting of the admission with information about herself. Why they wanted to do that, they didn’t know. It was both impressive and depressing that Aldous made a literal devil—a supposed creature of evil—civil and enjoyable to talk to by comparison. “That I know of. I’m adopted.”

“Tragic.”

“Wait until you hear why.”

“Don’t tell me,” Dicentra warned. “I mean that.”

Ulysses shrugged. “Alright, I won’t tell you about my moonstone dragon mother.”

“Shut up. You’re kidding.”

“I’m not.”

“Explains you.” Dicentra twisted her restraints, remembered she couldn’t move her arms, and sagged into the bars. “Am I…misgendering you?”

Ulysses wanted to delve deeper, ask what Dicentra meant by Uly's moonstone dragon mother "explaining" her. She could think of why, but she wanted to know what Dicentra picked up on, what her unique perspective was.

At the same time, she didn’t. It was an invitation for mockery. “I’m not a woman, but no, you’re not.”

—

“I’m adopted, too, actually,” Dicentra said unprompted while Ulysses reshelved books.

Uly abandoned the books and walked around the shelf. “Are you fucking with me?”

“No.”

“How does that work?”

“How would it work differently? You have someone who takes you in, teaches you, cares for you, loves you.”

“I don’t know if that’s my experience with my adopted mother,” Ulysses scoffed. “But fair enough.”

—

Ulysses dragged a stool outside the cage and sat down.

“Why do you keep answering my questions?” she asked.

Dicentra studied them, then stared straight ahead, her face too listless to hold any expression for long. She looked more etiolated by the week. Ulysses had told Aldous about the lifeforce thing; she wanted Dicentra alive to mollify Aldous’s wrath as much as she wanted their talks to continue. But even if he wanted to feed her, could Dicentra do it without the use of her innate magic? Would she even eat, or would she starve herself so she could die? Maybe he and Doolan were figuring out a system; they were powerful enough for it.

Was it even talking, though, with one of them behind bars? Didn't that make it interrogation?

“I like your voice,” Dicentra said. “You’re funny, sometimes. It's the only entertainment I have.” The corner of her mouth twitched with the phantom of amusement. “I get satisfaction from giving you information Aldous has to struggle for. Unless you’re telling him everything, in which case, fuck you.”

“You seem smart enough to know that was always a risk in telling me anything, so I’ll take the compliment. Do you like books?”

Dicentra’s gaze turned towards the shelves rising about her on all sides, her eyes brimming with longing. “Yes.”

“I can’t share my research, but maybe I could read to you sometime.”

“Why?”

“I would rather be at the Hall of Erudition, but they saddled Aldous with me and me with him. I get bored, too.”

“Is that why you’re asking so many questions?”

Uly mirrored her miniature, vindicated smile. “Maybe a bit, yeah. And to spite him, too.”

#writing tag #writing: crow #ulysses #dicentra #exandria #di likes talking and ulysses has a high cha whether she knows it or not #wildemount

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thatonewellroundednerd · 2 years

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Ideas for a D&D campaign

I was bored, and trying to prepare to run a campaign for friends, so here you go, 20 prompts cause why not:

King wants his daughter rescued from a dragon/angel/gene/demon/devil/or fiend of sorts.

Sea voyage, all the bells and whistles.

A town has a group of people thought to be hermits who all live on the same street, the catch is that they are all dragons, and they don’t know about each other.

The owner of a thrift store sells all types of odds and ends, including some of the rarest/powerful/dangerous magical items ever, and it’s all in broad daylight.

The king just died, and all of the characters are in town for the prince’s coronation. Unbeknownst to them and the rest of the empire, the line was killed off a few generations ago, and what they all believe to be the line is actually made up of doppelgangers.

There is a serial killer going around the small town, their only signature is taking a piece of skin from their victims (Maybe to make a flesh golem?), the party gets sucked into issue when they wander into town and end up thrown into the dungeon, and the murders ‘stop’.

Gregor the Overlander style, but with the Underdark, the party falls through vents in the floor, end up in the same cavern.

Your group is at the market, and the exotic animals dealer says, “I can show you something you’ve never seen before” the stuck up party doesn’t believe them, so naturally, they follow them.

The party, ends up owing a powerful wizard a favor, they decide to call it at the most inconvenient time for all of them. The party wakes up in a tower with no doors, too skinny of windows to crawl through, and a nest of eggs (dragon? other?) laying in a woven nest in the center of the room. There is a note on the table.

The village is about to start the traditional hunt, the stag has just been released, but the stag is a legendary star stag, and the party just saved it’s life.

The human population has grown, to the point where anything remotely magical is deemed too dangerous, and forced onto a reservation/’sanctuary’.

Everyone knows better than to enter the dense fog that appears in the seaside village all night. Refusing to believe the rumors, the party ventures out.

The group is enjoying a carnival. Upon entering the mirror maze they get sucked into a labrinth of mirrors.

The group walks into a thrift shop and they all notice an open room in the back, so being to curious blokes they are, they walk into the room.

The party randomly wander into the same coat closet. A stranger (NPC) says, “I bet you are all wondering why I’ve gathered you here today…”

They are all in a club. A very attractive Elf walks in, everyone is staring, she beckons to one of the PCs, then walks towards the bathrooms. Naturally, being jealous, the rest of the PCs follow them after a couple of minutes.

The crown prince has been kidnapped by a vampire lord, unbeknownst to his father, he has no intention of going home without a fight.

The group is called to assist in the reentry of the abandoned mines, they soon find out that they are the only people going in.

Someone trips and falls into the sewers, only to find that the sewers don’t exist…it’s all a big labrinth.

You are all sucked off of a boat in the middle of the ocean. The party attempts to hold their breath, but you soon realize the mer have you trapped in a bubble in one of the spires of their bottom of the ocean forts. The queen wants a word.

#d&d #d&d campaign #dm #dungeon master #writing prompt #writing ideas

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probablygoodrpgideas · 5 years

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Evil

Warning! The following post contains my opinions, this isn’t necessarily canon.

I asked you to send me “evil” things from D&D and now I will put them in one of three categories: Innately Evil, Drawn to Evil, Unjustly perceived as evil

Chromatic Dragons: Innate In my setting, Tiamat was created by the personification of Chaos and Evil, to be it’s right-hand(claw) man(woman) so I like to have chromatic dragons at always evil.

Fiends: Innate When a person that was evil in life dies, their soul goes into the lower planes, gets corrupted and turns into a fiend. No good there. (Side note: You might be able to "corrupt" a fiend into doing good, transforming it into a Celestial in the progress)

Tieflings: Perceived People see “Oh that looks like a devil” and assume it’s evil, but Tieflings are in no way evil

Cambions: Drawn Similar to Tieflings, but they have the constant Infernal calling, driving them to commit acts of evil

Ettercaps: Perceived Yes, some Ettercaps live in caves, eat adventurers and kill pixies. But not all of them! They’re just humanoid spiders. Spiders aren’t innately evil.

Beholders: Innate If your Beholder isn’t a paranoid megalomaniac, it’s not a beholder if you ask me.

Orcs: Perceived Orc tribes are aggressive and brutal, but if an orc child was raised in a human city, they would turn out perfectly normal. In my setting, even the warmongering tribes are a thing of the past. Most orcs still live in tribes but they are peaceful most of the time. There are even 3 large majorly orc towns/cities

Goblins: Perceived There are Goblin tribes who go around murdering and stealing. There are also Goblin tribes who live calm lives as farmers. But the latter don't usually encounter humans, so humans get the wrong image.

Lycanthropes: Drawn If you become infected, you can decide to give in to the curse or fight it. If you fight it, you can control yourself for most of the time, but at full moon, the evil takes over (or the good if you're a werebear)

Gnolls: Drawn The hunger of Yeenoghu is always with a Gnoll, but some are able to fight it and live their own lives

Kobolds: Perceived In my setting, Kobolds came into existence when a cult of Tiamat wanted to transform themselves into Dragons but failed. Many of them still worship the evil Dragons, but many don't see a reason to repeat the mistakes of their ancestors

Liches: Perceived It's not that Liches turn evil, it's simply that evil people turn into Liches. Other mages prefer different methods to achieve immortality that don't involve splitting your soul.

Vampires: Drawn Undeath twists the vampire's perception of the world into something dark. But if they have strong role models, vampires can avoid turning evil. Unfortunately, most refuse to listen to anyone but themselves.

Bugbears: Perceived Same as Goblins but bigger and more feral

Hags: Innate Hags were created by evil Fey to spread evil all over the planes. They take pride in their vileness.

Illithids: Drawn It's pretty hard to not be evil when you're hungry for brains and are linked to an innately evil Elder Brain (why are they innately evil? Because it's interesting) but if they manage to break away from their colonies, they might be able to live a life of good (check out @tomthemindflayer btw it's a great comic)

Nothics: Perceived They're just wizards who screwed up. Of course, the wizard who does the kind of research that can turn you into a Nothic is often an evil wizard, but not always!

Mimics: Perceived I like to think that mimics are created as minions, not naturally born. And nothing is stopping a good guy from creating a mimic to stop evil dudes

Magmin: Innate They aren't really evil, they just have a natural instinct to set things on fire

Oblexes: Drawn They were genetically engineered by Elder Brains who infused Oozes with Illithid DNA. And they were created as slaves to the Elder Brains. Just like Illithids they can break free but are even less likely to do so.

Giant: Perceived All giants have the potential to do terrible evil, or great good. Some giants, like Fire Giants, are more likely to turn evil, simply because of their society

Aboleths: It’s complicated Aboleths aren’t evil by definition. But they really don’t forgive the gods for smashing their empire. And therefore, you probably won’t find a non-evil Aboleth

Displacer Beasts: Perceived The Displacer Beasts that were trained by the evil Fey are evil. But there are others, still roaming the world, free of the dark faeries influence.

Tarrasque: Ehhhh Is a nuke evil? The Tarrasque is a weapon of the gods, and I don’t think we can morally judge weapons.

Ogres: Perceived Ogres are stuck in a vicious cycle. People think they’re stupid and evil, so they will never have a chance to get educated or prove their goodness.

Ettins: Drawn Similar to Orcs, but with an added insanity of Demogorgon

Shadow Dragons: Innate At least the chromatic ones. Compare for chromatic dragons and add a good bit of Shadowfell melancholy

Owlbears: Perceived They’re just big animals. Is a lion evil? I don’t think so

Drow: Perceived A “drow” in my setting is definitely evil. That’s because in my setting a “drow” is a dark elf who is part of the Drow Queendom and worships Lolth. A dark elf is in no way evil. A dark elf can go to the surface and worship Graz’zt instead. Or, you know, not do anything evil and just live their life.

Duergar: Perceived Very similar to drow. Most Duergar are pretty pissed off about the other dwarves not helping when they were slaves to the Illithids. Some Duergar don’t do that though.

Yuan-ti: Perceived Okay this is very unique in my setting but anyway, the personification of evil and chaos created the Yuan-ti as a force of evil on a new world. But they refused to be evil. So the Miterdusa was created, a larger, more powerful Medusa that would rule over the Yuan-ti and force them to do evil

Evil Fey: Perceived Every evil fairy is evil by choice, with the exception of Hags.

Chuul: Innate They were created by the Aboleth as slaves and they are so perfectly obedient that they still serve them. Maybe they lack the willpower to break free. Maybe they lack the desire to do so.

Evil Empyreans: Innate Evil Empyreans only come into existence if an Empyrean gets corrupted. Very similar to fallen angles, only that Empyreans aren't angels.

Gargoyles: Innate Gargoyles are the physical manifestations of Ogrémochs evil

Kuo-toa: Perceived A different kind of vicious cycle: The Kuo-toa are mad, and therefore every Kuo-toa is raised by mad people, which causes them to go mad. If you managed to break out of this, you could find yourself with a perfectly sane and good Kuo-toa

Medusas: Drawn After decades of accidentally killing everyone who looks at you, most Medusas give in to darkness and embrace their existence as an "evil" creature (I used to think very differently but this changed my mind)

Banderhobbs: Perceived They only carry out the orders their creator gave them. But theoretically, a good person could learn the ritual and create a Banderhobb who then does good things

Allips: Drawn The secret is driving them mad, but a strong-willed Allip might be able to not do evil things

Behirs: Innate/Perceived They like to eat adventurers but not because of some evil desire. They simply don’t see anything wrong with eating them.

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dareyoutoread-blog · 5 years

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So every week, I write a little “episode sum-up” for my Genesys RPG players. We’re currently in the midst of a little “Victorian horror” arc, and a couple weeks ago, I got a little carried away (compliments and apologies to Edgar Allan Poe):

The Gargoyle

Once upon a quest so dreary, while our warriors, strained and weary, Fought many a quaint and curious creature of Victorian lore While they escaped nearly napping, from the jukebox, merely wrapping For the spirit that was trapping, trapping all inside the doors Every visitor, (all shuddered,) trapping tight inside the doors ‘Twas the Sandman, in the store.

Now, distinctly please remember, though we are now in December That each disparate adventure has connected heretofore Though we started in October, and we rarely all are sober When the clues are all gone over - over what we’ve learned before All the useful facts and clues your Gamemasters have dropped before You will find, they add to more.

Let the foggy, fell, uncertain landscape of this world uncurtain Rolled back - pulled back like a rushing wave before the roar So that now, to still the beating of your hearts, you stand repeating “We’ve already been defeating villains others would abhor - Yes, been damning and defeating villains others would abhor - “What’s a few dread demons more?”

Add XP, you’ll all be stronger; hesitating then no longer, Forth, must you, to find the creepy castle on the moor; Mind the traps don’t catch you napping, charms and puzzles overlapping, Horrid creatures snarling, snapping - snapping at each thrice-locked door - Help is scarce; be sure you listen - when to open wide the door - Was that wind, or something more?

While the whistling wind is whipping, stand not long cavorting, quipping, Falt’ring, fearing fears no mortal ever feigned to fear before; But go quickly up the downstairs and pass swiftly by the dark heirs And look not upon the nightmares lurking in each darkened door This remember - not for anything look back - not at one door! There’s silence there, and nothing more.

Deep inside, the chamber reaching, ghouls and monsters snarling, screeching, Each of you a demon battling bigger than the ones before “Surely,” you’ll say, “surely entry is non gratis, “What else then can they throw at us? What new fright in store? “Let this fight be still a moment and we’ll see what’s still in store - ” Only beasts, and nothing more.

Crashing through the clash of creatures, then, with cranky, craggy features, In there bursts a burly Gargoyle of the bloody days of yore; Not the least obeisance owes he; not a moment stops or slows he; But, as if a secret knows he, traipses ‘cross the chamber floor - Traipses ‘cross the clashing creatures cluttered ‘cross the chamber floor - Traipses - sits - does nothing more.

Now this rocky rogue regarding all combatants, time retarding, Sitting, stone and stern and serious, ‘midst the bloody chamber floor Seems to have a solemn purpose; “So,” you say, “Why thus usurp us? “Ghastly grim and ghoulish Gargoyle bursting through this chamber door - Tell us what your mien and mission, what your message, we implore!” Quoth the Gargoyle “Evermore.”

Much you marvel this great grumpy rock to hear discourse so plainly, Though its answer puzzles each one strewn across the chamber floor; For all can not help but wonder why the fight was torn asunder By a Gargoyle bound to blunder gaily through the gales of gore - Bound to bound and blunder ‘sundering combatants among the gore, Just to grumble “Evermore.”

But the Gargoyle, sitting stonely on the marble floor, speaks only That one word, as if a mountain that one word is - no encore. Nothing farther then he grumbles - not a rocky shoulder rumbles - Till you scarcely more than mumble, “He has broken down the door - Now the creatures here will trap us, as they’ve tried to do before.” Then the Gargoyle: “Evermore.”

Startled at the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken, “Doubtless,” say you, “You have seen the monsters strewn upon the floor Trained to traffic in disaster by their devious beast-master Vlad, whose minions are far faster than his wit’s been heretofore - Could he be the mastermind behind the maze outside that door? Are we trapped here, evermore?”

Then the Gargoyle, barely turning, eyes you with his one eye burning, Turns to stone each heart inside your chests rather than reassure - Each believes from his beholding a new terror less embold’ning: There may be no exit from this exhumed house of horror From this maze-mired, monstered, misanthropic, mangled house of horror... Warned the Gargoyle: “Evermore.”

“How did we then come to be here - what was it we meant to see here?” Ask each one of you as realization dawns within your core - You remember stepping blindly through the maze’s dark and windy Twists and turnings, passing passageways and curling corridors, But what twisted, past-passed passageways and cryptic corridors Led you here...forevermore?

Now, you think, the air grows closer, your dilemma growing grosser - Strung by spellwork to a creepy castle moored upon the moor. “Rock,” you cry, “what friend hath sent thee? - was it Sentinels that rent thee From our ship and its enchanted chain and sent you to this door? Tell us how we might escape and are we bound inside these doors?” Quoth the Gargoyle, “Evermore.”

“Wizard!” cry you, “thing of evil! - villain, vampire, lich, or devil! - Whether magic-bound or whether cunning traps us in these doors, Yet we five remain undaunted, in this tower all enchanted - In this home by horror haunted - we will bow before no lore! Never - never shall we bow before some frightening piece of lore! Quoth the Gargoyle, “Evermore.”

“Listen!” cry you, “rocky stone-ears - we have told you we have no fears - Of the Hell that presses ‘round us; of its foul ambassadors - Tell us now, who seeks to keep us - what Death’s doppelganger reap us With the scythe and sickle of this keyless labyrinth of gore? Tell us what the villain’s name, that we may turn him into gore?” Quoth the Gargoyle, “Evermore.”

“Be that word a name or warning? This will shortly end in mourning Should you fail to give us counsel on the fiend we all deplore! Leave no clue to us unspoken as you left no door unbroken, Give us sigil, sign or token, as our pet and obligor! We compel you - we coerce you - you must tell us something more!” Quoth the Gargoyle, “Evermore.”

Now the Gargoyle, never grouching, still is crouching, still is crouching In the center of the crowded chamber on the marble floor Though the questers with their questions all still pester their stone bondsman, Not a one of them has thought to use their dice to help implore And without those dice, this wall of stone will never be implored - They shall ask him - evermore!

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helenarlett-rex · 5 years

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The Story of The Lady Liandra, or, When your D&D party is too stupid to live...

Years ago I started my great campaign. I felt it was a stroke of brilliance. It was a campaign in which I was the DM but no one knew I was the DM. I wrote every session and handed it off to a proxy DM to run while I posed as a player filling in the part of the party’s rogue. But what the other players never realized was that my character was actually a succubus. The Lady Liandra. I spent my time fighting along side the party as we dealt with a false wizard running a underground drug ring and later an evil Rakshasa. And never once did I do anything evil. I truly was their friend and ally. But I was always watching them. Always paying close attention to their actions. I was waiting. Waiting for them to commit the three sins of thought, word,and deed. Which for this game, meant saying something, thinking something, and doing something against their alignments. And eventually enough of them had committed the three sins that that poor little succubus just couldn’t sit back and watch anymore. They were gift wrapping their souls and handing them to her. What was she supposed to do? She was a lawful character. Lawful evil, but still lawful. And according to the laws a succubus had every right to their souls once they committed the three sins. And that was when I relieved myself and took over as the true DM, while my proxy DM stepped down and joined the party as his favorite NPC.

This led to a grand adventure where the party traveled to hell and broke into a law office to retrieve the contracts for their souls. But there was a slight problem with this. I had a way for them to get their souls back the proper way, but they didn’t take it. Instead, my party of mostly lawful good heroes, who lost their souls by doing things that were far from lawful good, broke into a law office, slaughtered an army of filing clerks, and stole the contracts for their souls which Liandra had acquired through entirely legitimate means.

The poor succubus didn’t know what to do. These were her friends. She had fought and bled alongside them. They had saved towns and villages together. She had even developed a drug addiction in the line of duty helping them take down a horrible drug lord who was addicting the masses to a new substance refined from demon spit. She had done that for them. She didn’t make them commit the three sins. They had all done that on their own. If they were going to throw their souls away then they should at least be collected by someone who cared about them and would take care of them in their eternal damnation. She had to sacrifice her ability to continue adventuring with them just to make sure that when they did die, their eternal torment would be the least horrible she could make it. And this was how they repaid her? Killing her staff, burning her law firm to the ground, and stealing from her? But they were supposed to be the good guys... Why would they do this to their friend?

So with a heavy heart, Liandra cut all ties with her former companions and let them go on their way. She didn’t even press charges and try to retrieve her stolen property. If they were just going to reject her help then she wouldn’t interfere. And if they lost their souls to someone who didn’t have their best interest in mind, there was nothing she could do about it. She had been rejected.

In her grief, Liandra returned home to be with her brother, the half breed, Maldekore The Demon Child. But upon returning home she found that her brother had started a war with the kingdom of Ulria. A war that was close to bringing about the kingdom’s destruction. Still the legal minded sort, Liandra brokered a peace treaty between the warring kingdoms in which she would marry the prince of Ulria and unite their two families instead of watching them destroy each other. But then along came her former companions once again...

They were at once against the wedding and set out to find a magic ring that would protect the prince from her influence. That was a little disappointing. Liandra had rather hoped to have her new husband wrapped around her little finger, but whatever... Even if they managed to retrieve the ring from the wraith of Sinner’s Island and give it to the prince, she would still be in line to become the next queen, even if her power wasn’t absolute. And she would still have saved both kingdoms from the ravages of war. That was something.

But then a third party decided to interfere. A band of dwarves who were unhappy with Ulria’s decision kidnapped Liandra and attempted to convince both sides that the other had been behind it. The war was going to be back on and Liandra was powerless to stop it.

But her former companions! They would surely uncover the truth. They knew a war like this would destroy both sides. Surely they would rescue her! Sure, they’d had their differences in the past, but this was bigger than any of that. They had to know that rescuing her was the only way, right?

Well... no... Instead her former companions... the “heroes”, took the advice of a certain drug lord she had once helped them remove from power, and traveled to the Realm of Madness to recruit a Jabberwock in a last ditch effort to storm her brother’s castle. And Liandra? She was left in a dwarven prison to rot. Alone and forgotten.

Years later the dwarves befell a great calamity at the hands of their master, a Corrupted Monger who her former “friends” had never bothered to remove from power, and Liandra was able to escape. But what she found when she did shocked her. Not only had her former companions put an end to the war by bringing a Jabberwock over from the Realm of Madness and using it to kill her brother, but they had apparently promised the beast her brother’s kingdom in exchange for his service, only to double cross him and banish him back to the Realm of Madness the moment the job was done.

And other tails were being told as well... Tales of Icewind Dale being completely overrun with vampires, which her former companions had tricked into migrating there so they wouldn’t have to deal with them in Ulria. Tales of them aiding a cult in summoning the dread planet, Allabar, the Opener of the Way, from the Far Realm. And even tales of them altering the very fabric of time, resulting in the eldritch abomination, Lenore, becoming the goddess of what was now the most popular religion in the land. Were these really the deeds of the people she had once called her friends? How had the party she once fought along side, who had prided themselves on their precieved goodness, changed so much? She was a succubus. A fiend. Lawful evil... And even she had never done anything that bad...

And where were they now? Happily settled down and retired from adventures. Enjoying the spoils of the exclusive shipping rights for the entire Kingdom of Ulria, which they had apparently swindled the King out of in exchange for their services in killing her brother. Liandra was disgusted. She wanted nothing more to do with them. But apparently fate would not allow it...

It seemed that with her brother’s death, she had come into an inheritance. An adamantine mine located on Dis, the second circle of The Nine Hells. It had once supplied adamantine to the material plane through a pass within a mountain cavern that connected Dis to the material plane. She could use the profits from such a thing to get back on her feet after her law firm was destroyed and her brother’s kingdom concurred in the name of Ulria. But with the kingdom now under Ulria’s banner that meant all shipments would have to go through the shipping company now owned by her former companions.

Not wanting to deal with them again, Liandra reached out to a younger group who had apprenticed under her former companions and now worked for the company. Asking them to handle the shipments of adamantine to the material plane. She even warned them that there were recent reports of trouble in the mountain pass they would have to use and they may have to clear out whatever had decided to nest in there during the time the mine was out of service.

This new group of adventurers seemed promising and she had hoped that maybe she could establish a new sort of friendship with them to replace the one she had regrettably lost with the old group. But trust was going to be hard to build, because they had apprenticed under her former companions, and as such has been told of her. Though obviously tales colored through her former companions’ warped perspectives. This was only made worse when the trouble in the mountain pass turned out to be far greater than she had anticipated.

It turned out the mountain pass was now being used as a staging ground for a heretical cabal of demons and devils working together towards the goal of freeing Tiamat from her prison in the hopes of unleashing her upon the Nine Hells. When the new group of adventurers stumbled into their lair they were quickly taken prisoner and transported back to Dis to serve as slaves for the cabal.

Liandra quickly began working on a plan to rescue them and help them put a stop to this cabal. After all, Dis was her home now. She had even had to sign a contract promising not to leave Dis just to convince their shipping company to take her on as a client. She certainly didn’t want a very angry Tiamat laying waste to it. But her plan was all for naught. The party was only there for three days and before Liandra could even put her plan to rescue them into motion they had already escaped, blamed her for their capture, and unleashed a plague of Brown Mold upon Dis which rapidly spread and engulfed the entire second circle of hell.

They knew Liandra was lawful. They knew that the contract she had signed would bind her to Dis without means of escape. And they covered the entire plane in deadly Brown Mold. It was an assassination attempt. She hadn’t even been a part of what happened to them and they blamed her without any proof and wiped out an entire plane of existence just to kill her. This group was even worse than the ones who had trained them...

Thankfully Liandra was able to escape. An emergency evacuation was put into effect for the entire plane of Dis, and because many of the higher ups who made the rules in Dis were likewise bound to the realm, they voted to lift all binding contracts restricting anyone from leaving under emergency evacuation protocol. Even Tiamat was set free in light of the situation. So it was no problem at all for someone as insignificant as Liandra to breach her contract and flee.

After that she spent a great deal of time as a refugee in one of the great undead cities in the Shadowfell with many of the other evacuees from Dis. She didn’t dare step foot back in the material plane again. Both her former companions and their pupils were deranged psychopaths who committed great atrocities while proclaiming how “good” they were, and they all held a serious vendetta against her. They didn’t even know she had been trying to save them and they weren’t about to listen now.

But after a year in the Shadowfell news reached Liandra of new trouble in Ulria. A band of kobolds had somehow managed to assassinate the king, and at the same time a visiting king from an orcish kingdom across the sea who was visiting on a diplomatic mission. Both sides were now blaming the other and war was once again coming to Ulria. And to make matters worse, that last group of adventurers she had dealt with had somehow managed to destroy Ulria’s economy, amassed all the land’s wealth on their own micro-nation, and was now declaring neutrality in the coming conflict. Ulria would not survive this war on their own.

But Liandra was still a noblewoman with some degree of power. Even if her lands had been taken or destroyed, the orcs didn’t know that. And the new King of Ulria had been her feancè once, so many years ago. Perhaps a political marriage would be enough to give the orcs second thought and hold off the war until things could be sorted out. After all... who wanted to go to war with a kingdom that had just united with the forces of hell? Maybe... Just maybe... their bluff would save Ulria.

And so Liandra and the new king were finally married. He still had that magic ring that protected him from the influence of a succubus, but Liandra didn’t care about that anymore. That was in the past. Now her only concern was in saving the kingdom she had once fought to protect all those many years ago. And she had her work cut out for her. Her new husband was not a very good king. He’d never had much of a mind for politics. She’d known that even back when she tired to marry him the first time. But with Liandra taking over the courtly duties and allowing her husband to serve as king in name only, things were finally starting to improve. They were able to hold off the orc invasion. The lives of Ulria’s people were beginning to improve. Things were finally looking up. Liandra was actually happy. She even converted to her husband’s faith as a worshiper of Odin. She was the first fiend to ever turn her back on hell and convert to the service of a good god.

And then it all fell apart.

A member of the party she had once tried to employ broke into the castle in a drunken stupor, and through a feat of unbelievable luck, managed to make his way to her husband’s bed chambers where he slit the King’s throat in his sleep and stole one of the magic rings from the King’s collection.

Liandra was now the widowed Queen of Ulria, but she had lost the husband she had actually come to love. And now she feared that her former companion’s apprentices would be coming for her next.

But there was another problem. Her husband had been a worshiper of Odin. And Odin had a rule. No king who followed him would be denied death on the battlefield without retribution. But her husband had had his throat slit in his sleep. The rule had been broken. And before Liandra could do anything about it, the castle was suddenly full of valkyrie sent to enact Odin’s retribution. They would have blood. They would have the blood of the one who killed the king and everyone associated with him.

Hoping to hold off the needless slaughter of innocent people who had nothing to do with her husband’s murder, Liandra convinced the valkyrie to stay in the castle as her bodyguards. Telling them that if they stayed with her, the guilty party would come to them when they came back to kill her. She knew she wouldn’t be able to save the foolish party at this point, but at the very least maybe she could limit the deaths the valkyrie would deal out to only them, and spare the lives of their families.

And just as Liandra had expected, the party did come back for her. Now that the King was dead, they had come to kill her and place one of her husband’s illegitimate daughters on the throne as a puppet Queen, loyal to them.

For a fleeting moment, Liandra hoped that upon seeing the valkyrie protecting her, the party would second guess their actions. Maybe they would realize they had gone astray and were no longer doing works of good. But the moment quickly passed when upon seeing the valkyrie the party declared that “Odin must have turned evil if he is protecting a demon!”

In their self delusions they still insisted that she was an evil demon and they were the virtuous heroes. But Liandra wasn’t a demon. She was a succubus. A fiend, neither devil nor demon, and not beholden to the rules of either. She could be whatever she wanted, and that included being good. And those were Liandra’s final thoughts as she and her valkyrie bodyguards were viciously slaughtered in her own bedchamber. She never even fought back.

Over the course of my campaign Liandra’s alignment shifted from Lawful Evil to Chaotic Good. My players, who played out two different parties over the course of the campaign, shifted from Lawful Good to Neutral Evil both times. Although they are still in denial about this and will argue right to my face, that I, the DM, am wrong. But I think the sad tale of the Lady Liandra speaks for itself.

And now I have to find a way to TPK a high level party who has just stupidly declared war on Odin and unleashed the wrath of the entire Norse pantheon. Because at this point they are just too stupid to live.

#d&d #d&d story

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noblecrumpet-dorkvision · 6 years

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Warlock Week: Warlocks in the Game

image credit: Vadim Marchenkov (GreyHues)

As a Player

Warlock Strategy: Try to get at least two rests per day to maximize damage output. Learn how to get the most out of each spell you cast. Only use your crowd control magic once you know that you need it. When you are outnumbered and the enemies have proven to be relatively strong, use it. Otherwise it might be a waste of a spell slot. Use your debuffs on tough monsters where you know you will get the full length out of your spells' durations. If you are in a random encounter or a wilderness encounter where a rest is likely to happen soon afterward, you can safely burn through your spell slots.

Your playstyle will change dramatically based on which pact you take.

Chain Pact: Your familiar is essentially your scout and situational disabler against weak CON targets. They have flight and invisibility (except the pseudodragon) to aid in their stealth and spying. An imp deals the most damage if targets fail their save, while the other three options have either sleep/poison or fear/poison to disable their foes. Besides scouting and situational attacks, you will most likely be having your familiar take the Help action for your attacks since your damage is far better. You can also deliver Touch spells but this is very situational as you don't have any damaging spells with Touch range, but it can let you buff your allies while maintaining your position. If you take a feat that gets you a cantrip (Magic Initiate, Spell Sniper, or Dragon Mark), take Shocking Grasp as that will allow your familiar to get a nice attack in and get out without risking an opportunity attack. Your touch spells are as follows: Remove Curse, Invisibility, Gaseous Form, Fly, Spider Climb, Protection from Evil/Good, Illusory Script.

Tome Pact: Your tome is all about versatility, which means choosing the best spells for the party; filling in blanks where they might be lacking. Shocking Grasp lets you get out of combat easily. Shillelagh lets you have as much power as a blade warlock (for a while). Spare the Dying protects party members. Friends is fantastic paired with the Mask of Many Faces invocation or if you don't mind losing friends once the duration is up. The Book of Ancient Secrets invocation is immensely powerful and opens up many doors by giving you access to eventually all ritual spells if you don't mind playing Wizard and searching for spells to copy. Overall

Blade Pact: This pact is numerically the weakest of the bunch and least versatile without multiclassing. You need to waste all of your invocations on combat buffs to actually function and it still trails behind any other warlock that has Agonizing Blast. You also need good stats in more ability scores (STR or DEX and CON). It takes an action to summon your pact weapon, which means you should do some scouting if you expect combat so you can choose the best weapon for the job. You should be aware that you will be in melee most of the time so defensive spells are useful for you. Be prepared to essentially be playing a fighter with a different flavor. That's not to say that isn't good, it's just usually not what people look for in a warlock.

Invocations can change your playstyle as well. For instance, Devil's Sight pairs well with the Darkness spell, which you can either take as a warlock or get from being a Tiefling or Drow. Mask of Many Faces lets you use Friends without fear of repercussions. Repelling Blast lets you take advantage of difficult terrain or allied area of effect spells by pushing enemies back into them or further in. Vision of Distant Realms gives you Arcane Eye at will which can replace the scouting part of a Pact of Chain warlock. Other great and versatile choices are Misty Visions, Sculptor of Flesh, and Mire the Mind.

Choice Spells: You don't need too many offensive spells as you can cast them so often, so just rely on Eldritch Blast. It's good to have a toolkit of crowd control for each situation (against low WIS, low DEX, and low CON, and against multiple enemies) so when you need it you can whip it out. At least one defensive spell will save your skin. Utility spells are best when versatile. Fly is unnecessary if you take the invocation that lets you cast Levitate on yourself at will which will make you pretty much immune to melee combat. Remember, you only have a few spell slots to work with at a time so make sure they count!

Single Target Crowd Control: Charm Person, Command (Fiend), Hold Person, Banishment, Dominate Person (Archfey/Great Old One), Dominate Monster [Arcanum], Feeblemind [Arcanum], True Polymorph[Arcanum]

Multiple Target Crowd Control: Hypnotic Pattern, Darkness, Wall of Fire (Fiend), Evard's Black Tentacles (Great Old One), Mass Suggestion [Arcanum], Forcecage [Arcanum]

Defense: Armor of Agathys, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Misty Step, Blink (Archfey), Foresight [Arcanum]

Debuff: Hex, Faerie Fire (Archfey)

Utility: Dispel Magic, Fly, Telekinesis (Great Old One), True Seeing [Arcanum], Plane Shift [Arcanum]

Pact of the Blade: Vampiric Touch, Fire Shield (Fiend), Greater Invisibility

Offense: Eldritch Blast, Fireball (Fiend), Finger of Death [Arcanum], Power Word Kill [Arcanum]

Roleplaying a Warlock: Warlocks have some of the best roleplaying potential. Their power source is often controversial compared to sorcerers and wizards. It might be necessary to hide your powers in a lawful-good city that frowns on fey, fiends, or aberrant gods (this of course, omits the Celestial subclass). When in combat mode, it's always fun to play up your pact magic with cool incantations and invoking your patron and their allies. Think Dr. Strange announcing his All-Seeing Eye of Agamotto or his Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth. I mean, "Hunger of Hadar" is pretty much already there.

The Pact of the Chain warlock has a familiar to roleplay with who might even be actively fighting against their master's wills, which can be great for some back-and-forth commentary. For the other pact boons, try to refer to your boon often. Theoretically, this is the object that was bestowed by your deity that gives you your power, not just some little bonus for your effort. It should be personalized from your patron and have deep meaning to you. Make a big to-do when you cast a spell by flipping through your Book of Shadows and have it hover in the air before you and glow with eldritch power. Assume that all of your spells are in the book rather than just three cantrips. For your pact weapon, point it toward your target and have the magic surge through the weapon with arcane spillage dripping onto the ground as you cast spells. Make your boon meaningful!

Specifics of the Pact: Who, specifically, is your patron, or do you even know? The different subclasses are intentionally broad to allow you to choose (I’ll go into this more in a post later this week). Write your pact into your backstory, detailing how you came to meet this patron and how the deal came about. Consider why you made the pact. Was it for power? Faith? Was it out of desperation? Better yet, what did you give your patron in return? Your character must understand these things are never free... right?

How do you feel about your patron? You two might be willing or unwilling allies. Perhaps one side was tricked into service of the other. Whatever the case, your patron is likely working on some plan behind the scenes because DMs can't resist such a tempting opportunity.

Moreover, how does your pact with your patron affect you? Does it affect your mind? Maybe a fiend tempts you with vices while a great old one causes you to slip into madness. An archfey might cause your emotions to surge. Your pact might affect you physically, as well. You might have dark rings around your eyes, tiny horns or spines, warped skin, a strange marking on your body, or be supernaturally beautiful.

As a DM

Challenging the Warlock: Warlocks don't do well over time. With only a handful of spell slots between rests, the easiest way to run them ragged is with making resting difficult. Spread out potential safe rooms in your dungeon and make resting dangerous with wandering monsters or a patrolling guard.

Having monsters with a variety of different good saving throws will eventually for the hand of a warlock that doesn't have the best spell choices. Even if they have a good toolkit for every type of monster, they will have to put extra thought into each spell they cast to get the most bang for their buck.

Monsters with different vulnerabilities and resistances won't challenge the warlock much as their have a Force damage cantrip in Eldritch Blast. Bigger or more monsters is the only real way to make combat more difficult in that respect. Adding enemy spellcasters to the mix will force warlocks to choose when to use their Dispel Magic spell, since the enemy will likely be buffing the monsters while harassing the PCs with offensive spells.

Roleplay the Patron: The warlock always has a patron except in potential homebrew situations. As the DM, you are this patron. How do you communicate with your warlock? If you don't, you should. Otherwise you miss out on roleplaying and character development. Think of a cool way to speak to the warlock, like the ones below.

The patron writes in blood in the warlock's Book of Shadows

The patron speaks in their dreams

The patron speaks through mirrors whenever the warlock is in front of one

The patron speaks through smoke or fire whenever it is present.

The patron causes the warlock to collapse and enter the Astral Plane to converse with them personally on neutral ground

The patron sends an avatar representative

The patron speaks through the warlock's familiar

The patron scribes runes on the warlock's pact weapon

When the patron speaks to the warlock, you have to think about why they are bothering to do so. Presumably, a patron is more powerful than a warlock since it's giving some of its own power, but it must have a reason it gave some of its power to a mere mortal. Create the patron's goals, ideals, and bonds to guide the conversation. Most likely, a patron cannot easily or safely enter the Material Plane, meaning they need a warlock to exercise their will there. A patron might have extraplanar enemies who also have plans for the mortal world, and is using the warlock to thwart them. Maybe the patron has a plan that it needs the warlock to set into motion.

But what happens when a warlock goes against their patron's wishes? Well, this depends on the nature of the pact. Only a breakage of the pact will actually forfeit the warlock's powers (at least in my book). Therefore it might be beneficial to actually define what the limits of the pact are, and what failsafes might be in place in case the pact is broken and remedying a broken pact (most good contracts are specific about every eventuality). In the worst case, a betraying warlock would lose their powers or have angered their patron to the point where it sends minions to kill them. For a slap on the wrist, a patron might curse the warlock until it becomes loyal again.

Arcane Relations: How do other spell casters treat the warlock? Wizards might see warlocks as lazy at best, or evil at worst, as they took the easy way towards power rather than learning. Sorcerers might empathize with warlocks, knowing that everyone's situation is different. Other warlocks might recognize another warlock's potential or their ambition and seek an alliance. Maybe two warlocks seek to be rid of their patron masters, or maybe seek to overthrow them and usurp their power. However, warlocks with patrons who dislike one another might not be so friendly. Their patron may have even instructed them to kill one another.

Divine casters have many similarities to warlocks, with the only real difference being that a divine caster will borrow their power from a deity, while a warlock gets it from a lesser extraplanar being. A deity won't directly communicate with a cleric except when asked by a Commune spell, while a patron has ample time to scheme directly with a warlock. A deity also has ample power to spread around like confetti to all their worshippers, while a patron might only have a handful warlocks beneath them. This means a patron can offer a bigger percentage of their power to fewer individuals to make up for their difference in power compared to a deity. A cleric, paladin, or druid might then assume a warlock has some sort of ulterior motive since their patron has taken such an interest in them. A deity asks only for worship. A patron requires the warlock for a specific plan usually unknown even to the warlock.

A DM should also consider who else might support a warlock's particular patron. Just because Mephistopheles is an archdevil, not a deity, doesn't mean there are not cults that worship him. The warlock could find potential allies in such circles. A DM should put these allies in their world and keep track of where they are so a warlock can eventually meet them. They could be invaluable to revealing a patron's true intentions.

#Warlock Week #D&D 5e #Dungeons and Dragons #Warlock #Roleplaying #patron #DnD #DnD 5e #D&D #DMG #Dungeon Master #Noblecrumpet #Dorkvision

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noblecrumpet-dorkvision · 7 years

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I thought about creating “corrupted“ clones for the PCs and that made me think about having some “corrupted“ class archetypes similar to the oathbreaker for paladin. How would you do something like that? Ive had a couple of ideas so far like having something similar to a totem barb but every level they choose a new boon they get transformed a bit more aberration-y. If you want i can also send all of the ideas i had so far.

That sounds awesome! I always love evil stuff (probably why I'm usually the DM rather than the player. So much evil to commit!) Without going into immense detail, let me try and get some ideas down.

Corrupt Subclass Ideas

Barbarian: Demon Totem. Barbarians are generally the most chaotic class, so add evil to it and they become C-E demons! Their rage could be fueled by powers of the Abyss or even temporarily allow a demon to possess them. Give them resistances or abilities that make them more like demons as they level up.

Bard: College of the Worm-Tongue. A political intrigue character that specializes in getting people to do wicked things, act against their nature, or work in the bard's best interests to further their evil plans. Bards have plenty of persuasion abilities, but find some way to specialize in it. You can also give them an ability to make charmed people commit obviously dangerous acts (maybe giving the victim advantage) or casting a boosted Suggestion spell once a day.

Cleric: Ur-Priest Discipline. I mean, clerics worship evil deities all the time, but an Ur-priest is a cleric that steals its powers from the gods rather than worshipping them. Looking at the 3e Ur-priest for inspiration, they have two very unique abilities. They can copy a creature's spell-like ability for 24 hrs once a day (and can use it three times a day). The other ability is to prepare a higher level spell slot each day by sacrificing two lower-level spell slots (by adding the levels together and taking 3/4 of it, but that sounds stupid. I would just say add them together but it can't be higher than the highest slot you can cast). Use these in such a subclass.

Druid: Circle of Blight. I already made one of these for Druid Week, but a blighter destroys nature rather than fights for it. They suck magic from the land to increase their own power, abusing their knowledge of nature.

Fighter: Tainted Warrior Archetype. Back in 3e from the Heroes of Horror supplement, there was a class that used Taint. I believe there's a similar mechanic in the back of the 5e DM's Guide for "Sanity" so you can change that to taint and give the fighter dark powers that use the corruption in their body to their advantage. Kind of like a toxic avenger type deal.

Monk: Way of the Forsaken Warrior. A monk that dishonored their master or dojo, perhaps by seeking out forbidden techniques. I would honestly just multiclass into a spellcasting class or a rogue, or else give such abilities like spells or sneak attacks in the subclass.

Paladin: Vow of the Fiend. I did do a few evil paladins for Paladin Week, including an aberration-based one and a Tiamat-following dragon one, and there's always the Oathbreaker. Another idea would be the converse to a demonic barbarian: a devilish paladin! paladins are generally lawful, so devils are the perfect patrons who would love to have a beefy martial character on their side.

Ranger: Mortal Hunter Conclave. A ranger that hunts for pure sport and bloodlust. The most dangerous game is, of course, man, so they tend to hunt people that enter their neck of the woods. Give them ways to fight unfairly, like increased range and not revealing their position when they attack from range. Give them traps to set up ambushes or give them crowd control abilities. Additions to their spell list could also be used.

Rogue: Shadow Roguish Archetype. A rogue that has been touched by darkness to become a cold, emotionless killing machine and can change into a shadowy ethereal creature for intervals. Maybe give it the ability of a Shadow to drain STR. Not all the time, obviously. Maybe just when in shadow-form or on the first round of combat. Another cool ability would be a fear ability once or twice a day.

Warlock: Patron of the Bloodfiend. A warlock an ancient and powerful vampire for a patron. Perhaps gain a blood drain or self-heal from non-cantrip spells plus access to vampiric invocations (stuff that charms, stuff that summons swarms, gaseous form, etc.) Despite not being a vampire themselves, they slowly begin to act like one.

Sorcerer: Fiendish Bloodline. I'm really surprised this isn't already an option in the PHB. So much room for content. Give the sorcerer abilities like either demons or devils depending on their bloodline. Maybe change the flavor of their sorcery points and have them be souls of creatures they have slain.

Wizard: School of Forbidden Secrets. A wizard that seeks out forbidden knowledge and worse, uses it. Give them ways to get more damage out of their spells or cheat out higher spell slots a few times a day. You could give them a max-health reduction as a cost or by lowering their CON score. Using such spells could also affect their sanity, perhaps giving them a penalty to WIS but gaining forbidden divination abilities in return.

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