Dusk Mage.

Arcane Tradition.

A wizard who mettles with souls & esoteric rituals to empower his spells.

Overview

As a wizard, you have studied and experimented among the unschooled mages, planar beings such as the fey, and other spirits of the wilderness. Unconstrained by the taboos and preconceived notions of more “civilized” and “traditional” schools, you have achieved some peculiar results. Students of this arcane tradition have been known to shape change into beasts, summon the undead, and even practice rituals to empower their bodies with elemental spirits.

Followers of this tradition are known as hedge mages. Keeping mostly to themselves in the wilderness, they have gained their knowledge outside the conventional teaching of traditional wizards. They do not view magic, its taboos, or traditions the same as other users of the arcane arts. Due to their unorthodox and often eccentric views, they are viewed as untrained, unrefined, and often ineffective at magic.

Witchblade Features

Wizard LevelFeature
2ndMight and Magic, Witching Shroud
6thExtra Attack
10thBewitched Strike
14thHarrowed Path 

Primordial Fusion

The pinnacle of your study and experimentation with elementals, spirits, and other planar beings, you develop a mystical ritual to further command and harness their power. You gain knowledge of a peculiar ritual that commands a spirit to possess your body or special object granting you access to some of its power.

Beginning at 14th level you may choose one of the following features at the end of a long rest after performing this ritual. This feature remains available to you until you finish a long rest, where you may perform this ritual again allowing you to choose one of the features again. This ritual takes 10 min to cast and requires you to spend 50gp in materials such as ink or chalk, incense, and other common magical components.

Air Spirit
You gain a flying speed equal to your current speed and you do not need to breathe. You can also, as a bonus action, cause strong winds to swirl around you protectively in a 10ft radius. These winds cause the attack rolls of ranged weapon attacks to have disadvantage if the attacks pass in or out of the wind.

You also gain the Gust cantrip if you do not already have it and you may cast it using a bonus action instead of an action.

Water Spirit
You may add your intelligence modifier to the spell damage of any cold spell you cast.  As a bonus action when you deal cold damage to a creature, you may force it to make a constitution saving throw, against your spell save DC, or be petrified for 1 min.

You also gain the Shape Water cantrip if you do not already have it and you may cast it using a bonus action instead of an action.

Earth Spirit
As an action, you can cause nearby rocks and stone to cover your body like armor. While encased in this armor your speed is reduced by 5ft, your weight is doubled, and you cannot wear armor or wield weapons. You also gain the following benefits:

  • Your AC becomes 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Intelligence modifier.
  • You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
  • You gain a slam attack, with which you are proficient. This attack deals 1d8 + your Intelligence modifier bludgeoning damage. This attack also counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
  • You gain a ranged attack, with which you are proficient. This attack deals 1d6 + your Intelligence modifier in piercing damage. It has a range of 20 feet and counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
  • You can attack twice, instead of once, when you take the Attack action on your turn using your slam or ranged attack gained from this feature. You ignore this benefit if you already have a feature, like Extra Attack, that gives you extra attacks.
  • You gain the Mold Earth cantrip if you do not already have it and you may cast it using a bonus action instead of an action.
  • Once per long rest you may use an action to encase a target of large size or smaller in a rocky prison. The target makes a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC or have its speed reduced to 0, become incapacitated,  and gain resistance to all damage. This effect lasts until you release this effect, at the end of a long rest, or if the target succeeds on a Strength check with a DC equal to your spell save DC.

This armor lasts until you dismiss it with a bonus action, or it is dispelled.

Fire Spirit
You may add your intelligence modifier to the spell damage of any fire spell you cast. Any time you deal fire damage to a target, if the target is a creature or a flammable object, it ignites. Until a creature takes an action to douse the fire, the target takes 1d8 fire damage at the start of each of its turns.

Also, once per long rest, you may cause the air within 15 feet of you to ignite violently. Creatures other than yourself within the range of this effect must make a Dexterity saving throw or take 10d8 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The fire spreads around corners.

Restless Spirit
You construct the form a hound from bone, cloth, leather, rope, and wood. With your ritual, you command a restless spirit from beyond to possess the form. You may create a number of hounds to serve you equal to half your Intelligence modifier (rounded up). These hounds use the dire wolf statistics with the following changes:

  • The hounds are medium size, not large, and count as an undead, not a beast.
  • They have a number of temporary hit points equal to your Intelligence modifier.
  • The hounds bite attack deals necrotic damage instead of piercing damage.

Roll initiative for the hounds, which have their own turn as a group. They obey your verbal commands. If a hounds hit points drop to 0, you may reconstruct its body during a short rest, restoring it to full hit points.

Celestial Spirit
You construct a small amulet out of iron and silver with a leather cord attached. With your ritual, you command a celestial spirit to enter the amulet and grant a protecting ward to whoever bears the amulet around their neck. The bearer of the amulet gains the following benefits:

  • Gain proficiency in Constitution saves
  • Is constantly under the effects of the Protection from Evil and Good spell
  • Gain temporary HP equal to 5 times your Intelligence modifier
  • Gain access to the Light cantrip

Ghost form

Starting at 6th level, through your unusual research and experimentation you gain use of a Ghost Form. As an action, you assume a visible, incorporeal form like that of a manifesting ghost or specter. You can stay in ghost form for a number of minutes equal to half your wizard level (rounded down) and it shares uses with your wild form. If you occupy the same spot as a solid object or creature when this feature ends, you are immediately shunted to the nearest unoccupied space that you can occupy and take force damage equal to twice the number of feet you are moved. 

While you are transformed, the following rules apply:

  • You and all of the equipment you are carrying becomes incorporeal, you cannot interact with physical objects and they cannot interact with you.
  • You gain incorporeal movement. You can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. You take 1d10 force damage if you end your turn inside an object.
  • You gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks and you are immune to necrotic and poison damage.
  • You are immune to being grappled, petrified, prone and restrained.

Might and Magic

You gain proficiency with light, medium and heavy and medium armors, shields, and all simple and martial weapons.

You also gain proficiency in the Athletics skill if you don’t already have it.

Witching Shroud

Whenever you cast a spell of 1st level or higher and not as a ritual, you divert a portion of the spell’s magical power to create a mystical shroud. This shroud lasts until you finish a short or long rest.

The effect the shroud provides depends on the school of magic from your most recently cast spell:

Abjuration: You gain a +1 bonus to your AC.

Evocation or Transmutation: You deal an additional +2 damage on weapon attack rolls. If the spell had a damage type, this is the same type the spell could deal. If the spell couldn’t deal damage, it instead is force damage.

Conjuration: You deal an additional +2 damage to one damage roll of spells you cast. If the spell had a damage type, this is the same type the spell could deal. If the spell couldn’t deal damage, it instead is force damage.

Divination or Enchantment: You gain a +2 bonus to initiative and Dexterity saving throws.

Necromancy or Illusion: Creatures have a -1 penalty to attack rolls against you.

 

Design Notes:

The shrouds effect changes after the spell is cast, not before or during the casting of a spell.

Extra Attack

You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Bewitched Strike

Once per turn, when you cast a spell that targets only one creature and doesn’t have a range of self, you can choose to deliver that spell as part of a successful melee weapon attack with your Attack Action. If the spell requires a saving throw, the creature makes them as normal for the spell. You may use a melee weapon in which you are proficient as a spellcasting focus for spells cast in this way.

To be eligible, a spell must be incapable of targeting more than one creature at the spell’s current level and not have a range of self. For example, magic missile and scorching ray aren’t eligible, but ray of frost and chromatic orb are.

Design Notes:
This still counts as casting a spell, requiring all spell components. Additionally, this also counts as  casting a spell in regards to the rules in casting more than one spell per turn.

Harrowed Path

Starting at 14th level, when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, it suffers disadvantage on the saving throw on the next spell you cast on it. When a creature is affected by one of your spells, you gain advantage on the next attack roll you make against it.

Additionally, you have advantage on Constitution saving throws made to maintain Concentration on spells.