The Death Warden: An Undead Warlock for Lethal Campaigns

Author: Audere

Do you find yourself going down often in combat? Have you had a TPK, or perhaps a close call? Do you have a DM who repeatedly emphasizes that they won’t be pulling any punches? If so, this might be the build for you! 

This Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft enabled build combines 3 levels of Divine Soul Sorcerer with 17 levels of Undead Warlock. In addition to putting out excellent damage and control, this build heavily reinforces party survivability by stacking multiple death wards.

But wait, isn’t that against the rules? Magical effects with the same name don’t stack!

That’s correct, but thankfully the death wards never have to be active at the same time! Here’s the rule on combining magical effects:

Here’s the text of death ward:

So once one death ward is used up, it ends, allowing the next death ward to take effect. By gaining access to the spell through the Undead’s Expanded Spell List and using Pact Magic slots on it each morning, we can provide essential party members with an effective buffer and prevent TPKs. Extended Spell Metamagic allows us to stack even more death wards without them running out. At level 10, if we begin a long rest at 8 PM and begin adventuring at 11 AM, we can distribute 14 death wards!

Disclaimer: This is a pretty particular interaction that some might see as an exploit. It also involves starting your day with back-to-back short rests. Make sure to clear it with your DM in Session 0.

Note that the build’s durability is increased a lot by Moderately Armored, so if you’re starting at level 1 and the game is going to be quite lethal, you might want to shuffle around the progression a bit, perhaps by taking your first level in Warlock and taking Moderately Armored with your Custom Lineage feat.

Race: Custom Lineage

Ability Score Increases – +2 Cha. We’re here for 18 starting Charisma when combined with our starting feat.
Feat – Telekinetic (+1 Cha). We’ll be starting with Telekinetic since it synergizes with Repelling Blast and Form of Dread. Moderately Armored will come at Warlock 4.
Variable Trait – Darkvision. 
Size – Medium. We will eventually take a spell where this matters.
Languages – Common, Undercommon. Our choice of bonus language isn’t critical, and if you have any information about what languages you might encounter in your campaign then let that guide you.

Class: Sorcerer

Skills – Persuasion, Deception. 
Sorcerous Origin – Divine Soul.
Divine Magic (Divine Soul feature) – Lawful. Bless is the strongest spell option here.  
Favored by the Gods (Divine Soul feature) – This ability is one of the reasons we are taking levels in Sorcerer. Use it like you would use the shield spell, except for saving throws you think you just barely missed.
Spellcasting – We’ve got some invaluable options we’re picking up here.

Absorb elements – Essential. 
Bless – This is what we’ll be using our slots on at low levels. 
Shield – Essential.
Guidance – Automatic pick.
Light – Another decent utility cantrip, but you could pick something else. 
Mage hand – Via Telekinetic. Solid utility. 
Mind sliver – Set up the spells of allies. 
Shape water – This spell’s ability to both freeze water into a hard surface and animate it to move around can be key in setting off traps ahead of you, crossing gaps, and creating cover in an emergency.

Ability Scores

8 Str, 13 Dex, 14 Con, 10 Int, 12 Wis, 15+2+1 Cha

Background: Custom

Skills – Perception, Stealth. 
Languages – Celestial, Draconic. 
Feature – Criminal Contact. This feature comes from the Criminal background. You’ve got some contacts in the underworld. If you have another background feature you would prefer, choose it. 
Creator’s Note – Making a custom background is RAW, the PHB on page 125 states, “The sample backgrounds in this chapter provide both concrete benefits (features, proficiencies, and languages) and roleplaying suggestions. To customize a background, you can replace one feature with any other one, choose any two skills, and choose a total of two tool proficiencies or languages from the sample backgrounds.” Using this, we are making a custom background and using the Criminal feature.

Equipment

Sorcerer Starting Equipment

• Light crossbow and 20 bolts
• Component pouch
• Dungeoneer’s pack
• Two daggers

Criminal Background Starting Equipment 

• A crowbar
• A dark set of clothes with a hood
• A belt pouch with 15gp

Purchasing Goals

• Studded leather for next level
• Shield when we get Moderately Armored feat
• Half plate when we get Moderately Armored feat
• Potions of healing
• Material components for spells

Level 1 Strategy

A standard Divine Soul Sorcerer 1 start. We’re here for the Constitution save proficiency, Favored By the Gods, absorb elements, and shield, but we’ll also be dipping back into Sorcerer later for Font of Magic.

Level 2: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 1)

Additional Proficiencies – Light armor, simple weapons. 
Otherworldly Patron – The Undead.
Expanded Spell List (Undead feature) – There are three spells we will eventually take from this list. 
Form of Dread (Undead feature) – This is excellent; frightened is a potent condition to inflict, and when using Form of Dread, we can do it every turn. Telekinetic synergizes with this by helping us deny frightened creatures access to our party.
Pact Magic – We need to keep track of our short rest slots and our long rest slots separately. Remember that you can intermix your spells known across your two classes, so you can cast a Sorcerer spell with a Pact Magic slot and a Warlock spell with a Spellcasting slot. 
Spell Changes: +armor of Agathys, +protection from evil and good, +eldritch blast, +minor illusion.

Armor of Agathys – This might be situationally good to precast, but we’re still casting bless the vast majority of the time with our slots.
Protection from evil and good – Same story as armor of agathys, for different situations.
Eldritch blast – Automatic pick, of course.
Minor illusion – Solid utility. 

Level 3: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 2)

Eldritch Invocations – Agonizing Blast, Repelling Blast. 
Agonizing Blast – An automatic invocation pick.
Repelling Blast – Like Telekinetic, Repelling Blast synergizes excellently with Form of Dread.
Spell Changes: +hellish rebuke.

Hellish rebuke – Just a bit more damage in a pinch. It’s going to be swapped out at the next level. 

Level 4: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 3)

Pact Boon – Pact of the Chain. We won’t have enough spare invocations to make other Pacts worthwhile for a number of levels. Remember you can change the form of your familiar summoned with this every time you cast find familiar.
Spell Changes: +invisibility, +phantasmal force, +find familiar, -hellish rebuke.

Invisibility – This spell has nice utility. 
Phantasmal force – The most potent spell we have access to for combat! From the Undead Expanded Spell List.
Find familiar – Via Pact Boon.  

Level 5: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 4)

Ability Score Improvement (Feat) – Moderately Armored (+1 Dex). Our AC becomes respectable!
Eldritch Versatility (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything Optional feature) – We plan to use this optional feature at a future level to swap into a different Pact Boon, but not yet.
Spell Changes: +hold person, +magic stone.

Hold person – Situational, but decent when it comes up. It’ll stay relevant from time to time due to its quality upcasting.
Magic stone – On a turn where we do not cast a leveled spell, this can be cast with a bonus action, the stones dropped, and the stones picked up and thrown by one or more of the party’s summons (skeletons, tiny servants, etc.) Choose a different cantrip if that sounds too bothersome.

Level 6: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 5)

Eldritch Invocations – Agonizing Blast, Eldritch Mind, Repelling Blast. 
Eldritch Mind – Here we get our first significant concentration spells, so we take this invocation.
Spell Changes: +hypnotic pattern, +summon shadowspawn, -protection from evil and good.

Hypnotic pattern – Top-tier control, an automatic pick.
Summon shadowspawn – This spell is more relevant if we’re conserving resources between short rests, since we might be able to get use out of it in multiple encounters. Notably, the Fury spirit’s Terror Frenzy synergizes with our Form of Dread, as does the Dreadful Scream, since an enemy Frightened from two directions has few movement options.

Level 7: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 6)

Grave Touched (Undead feature) – This is a nice power boost to our Form of Dread. Damage is damage.
Spell Changes: +counterspell.

Counterspell – Another automatic pick.

Level 8: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 7)

Eldritch Invocations – Agonizing Blast, Eldritch Mind, Repelling Blast, Tomb of Levistus.
Tomb of Levistus – We will only keep this invocation for one level. The drawback is significant, but if it saves your life, it’s worth using.. 
Spell Changes: +death ward, +summon aberration, -armor of Agathys.

Death ward – The build’s main gimmick has just come online! Slap some death wards on priority party members, particularly anyone with healing word. 
Summon aberration – Less importantly, we now have a second summoning spell. The Slaad’s regeneration gives it great staying power and reusability between fights.

Strategy

Example death ward casting schedule:

• Rest casting at end of long rest: 2x death ward.
• Hour 0: 2x death ward. Short rest.
• Hour 1: 2x death ward. Short rest.
• Hour 2: Go adventure!

Total death wards: 6

Example death ward party distribution:

• Cleric: 4x death wards.
• Wizard: 1x death ward.
• Self: 1x death ward.
• Monk: 0x death wards.

Level 9: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 8)

Ability Score Improvement (Feat) – Metamagic Adept. Choose Extend Spell and Quicken Spell.
Pact Boon – Pact of the Talisman. We now have enough invocations to make this worthwhile, so we use Eldritch Versatility to switch away from Pact of the Chain. 
Eldritch Invocations – Agonizing Blast, Eldritch Mind, Rebuke of the Talisman, Repelling Blast, Tomb of Levistus.
Rebuke of the Talisman – This invocation fits the theme of protecting our wards. The talisman should be on the most essential party member most of the time, but consider moving it to someone else if they become low on health. An alternative route for this build would be to take Pact of the Tome for the Book of Ancient Secrets invocation, and perhaps Gift of the Protectors later.
Spell Changes: +dimension door, +fly, -phantasmal force, -find familiar.

Dimension door – A good “back pocket” option to get away from danger, or to get into a location you want to be in. Note that unlike lower level teleportation spells like misty step and thunder step, dimension door doesn’t require you to be able to see your destination, just describe it. This is why we are medium sized. If you don’t plan to take this spell, small size is better.
Fly – A solid upcastable spell for Warlocks.

Strategy

Example death ward casting schedule:

• Rest casting at end of long rest: 2x Extended death ward.
• Hour 0: 2x death ward. Short rest.
• Hour 1: 2x death ward. Short rest.
• Hour 2: 2x death ward. Short rest.
• Hour 3: Go adventure!

Total death wards: 8

Example death ward party distribution:

• Cleric: 5x death wards.
• Wizard: 2x death wards.
• Self: 1x death ward.
• Monk II: 0x death wards.

Level 10: Sorcerer (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 8)

Font of Magic – Here we take our second level of Sorcerer for Font of Magic so that we can finally Extended Spell Metamagic more death wards.
Spell Changes: +command.

Command – This spell upcasts well, and makes for great non-concentration control in a pinch.

Strategy

Example death ward casting schedule:

• Rest casting at end of long rest: 2x Extended death ward, 2 sorcery points.
• Hour 0: 2x Extended death ward, 2 sorcery points. Short rest.
• Hour 1: 2x Extended death ward, 0 sorcery points. Short rest.
• Hour 2: 1x Extended death ward, 3 sorcery points. Short rest.
• Hour 3: 2x Extended death ward, 1 sorcery point. Short rest.
• Hour 4: 1x Extended death ward, 4 sorcery points. Short rest.
• Hour 5: 2x death ward, 4 sorcery points. Short rest.
• Hour 6: 2x death ward, 4 sorcery points. Short rest.
• Hour 7: Go adventure!

Total death wards: 14

Example death ward party distribution:

• Cleric: 7x death wards.
• Wizard: 6x death wards.
• Self: 1x death ward.
• Monk VI: 0x death wards.

Level 11: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 9)

Eldritch Invocations – Agonizing Blast, Eldritch Mind, Lance of Lethargy, Rebuke of the Talisman, Repelling Blast.
Lance of Lethargy – We’ve taken this here because Lance of Lethargy and Repelling Blast both synergize quite well with Rebuke of the Talisman, making it difficult for enemies to be close to our allies. 
Spell Changes: +antilife shell, +synaptic static, -invisibility. 

Antilife shell – This is excellent against melee opponents, potentially winning combats automatically. 
Synaptic static – This is now the go-to use of our Pact Magic spell slots. They are finally level 5!

Level 12: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 10)

Necrotic Husk (Undead feature) – Another nice layer of defense.
Spell Changes: +prestidigitation. 

Prestidigitation – The most minor of utility.

Level 13: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 11)

Mystic Arcanum – 6th. A third set of spell slots to track. We’ll list our Mystic Arcanum choices each level as Spells Known, but remember you are completely restricted using these spells and slots.
Spell Changes: +scatter. 

Scatter – This is a flexible and potent spell; it can reposition enemies, get allies out of danger, or both. It also fits well with our theme.
Banishment – Boot up to two outsiders back from whence they came, or turn one deadly combat into two manageable ones. At this level we also get our 3rd Pact Magic slot, which not only lets us cast spells like this more, but also increases our available death wards.

Strategy

Example death ward casting schedule:

• Rest casting at end of long rest: 3x Extended death ward.
• Hour 0: 3x Extended death ward, 1 sorcery point. Short rest.
• Hour 1: 2x Extended death ward, 3 sorcery points. Short rest.
• Hour 2: 3x Extended death ward, 0 sorcery points. Short rest.
• Hour 3: 2x Extended death ward, 2 sorcery points. Short rest.
• Hour 4: 2x Extended death ward, 4 sorcery points. Short rest.
• Hour 5: 3x Extended death ward, 1 sorcery points. Short rest.
• Hour 6: 1x Extended death ward, 1x death ward, 4 sorcery points. Short rest.
• Hour 7: Go adventure!

Total death wards: 20

Example death ward party distribution:

• Cleric: 8x death wards.
• Wizard: 8x death wards.
• Self: 4x death ward.
• Monk XXI: 0x death wards.

Level 14: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 12)

Ability Score Improvement (Feat) – War Caster. At this point we finally get War Caster for concentration protection, so we can swap out Eldritch Mind.
Eldritch Invocations – Agonizing Blast, Bond of the Talisman, Eldritch Mind, Grasp of Hadar, Lance of Lethargy, Rebuke of the Talisman, Repelling Blast.
Bond of the Talisman – The bearer of your Talisman can teleport to you and vice versa. Our theme for this level’s invocations is separating allies from enemies.
Grasp of Hadar – Most of the time, you want to push enemies away with Repelling Blast, but sometimes what would control a battlefield most effectively would be a pull. This will not be lost on you, having played with Telekinetic for 13 levels already. Combined with all of our other forced movement, we can extensively shape combat positioning.

Level 15: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 13)

Mystic Arcanum – 7th.
Spell Changes: +forcecage, +invisibility.

Forcecage – An automatic pick, since it takes enemies out of the fight with no saving throw.

Level 16: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 14)

Spirit Projection (Undead feature) – This is a fairly potent ability; the concentration is a downside, but as a Warlock we can do fine casting synaptic static while concentrating on Spirit Projection in an important fight.

Level 17: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 15)

Mystic Arcanum – 8th.
Eldritch Invocations – Agonizing Blast, Bond of the Talisman, Grasp of Hadar, Lance of Lethargy, Rebuke of the Talisman, Repelling Blast, Visions of Distant Realms.
Visions of Distant Realms – This is incredibly useful for scouting and mapping.
Spell Changes: +feeblemind, +dispel magic.

Feeblemind – Our Mystic Arcanum choices here are unfortunately not so great, but this is the best of them.
Arcane eye – Via Visions of Distant Realms.
Dispel magic – Someone else in the party can probably cast this already, but now we have it if we need it.

Level 18: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 16)

Ability Score Improvement (Feat) – Resilient (Wis). Our Wisdom saves have been lacking, and Resilient at this level provides a large bonus. You could take something like Alert or Lucky instead.

Level 19: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 17)

Mystic Arcanum – 9th.
Spell Changes: +true polymorph, +summon undead.

True polymorph – True Polymorph is far and away the best 9th level Mystic Arcanum for Warlock in terms of power. We could (and plan to) write an entire article about how to use this spell at some point.
Summon undead – If you need to summon something for a combat, now you have three choices to consider.

Level 20: Sorcerer (Sorcerer 3/Warlock 17)

Metamagic – Another level of Warlock would give us only an extra invocation, so we take one last level in Divine Soul Sorcerer for Metamagic. Choose Heightened Spell and Subtle Spell.
Spell Changes: +aid, +Tasha’s mind whip, -bless.

Aid – We’re not casting bless very much at this point! Fortunately, Divine Soul allows us to swap into a different Cleric spell, so we pick one that upcasts very well.
Tasha’s mind whip – Another upcasting standout to add to our repertoire of battlefield control tricks.

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That’s the Death Warden, we hope you enjoyed it! Special thanks to Pack Tactics for featuring this build in a video on his channel!