The Death Warden: An Undead Warlock for Lethal Campaigns
- Race: Custom Lineage
- Class: Sorcerer
- Ability Scores
- Background: Custom
- Equipment
- Level 2: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 1)
- Level 3: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 2)
- Level 4: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 3)
- Level 5: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 4)
- Level 6: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 5)
- Level 7: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 6)
- Level 8: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 7)
- Level 9: Warlock (Sorcerer 1/Warlock 8)
- Level 10: Sorcerer (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 8)
- Level 11: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 9)
- Level 12: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 10)
- Level 13: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 11)
- Level 14: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 12)
- Level 15: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 13)
- Level 16: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 14)
- Level 17: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 15)
- Level 18: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 16)
- Level 19: Warlock (Sorcerer 2/Warlock 17)
- Level 20: Sorcerer (Sorcerer 3/Warlock 17)
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:
For example, if two clerics cast bless on the same target, that character gains the spell’s benefit only once; he or she doesn’t get to roll two bonus dice.Player's Handbook (p. 205)
Here’s the text of death ward:
If the spell is still in effect when the target is subjected to an effect that would kill it instantaneously without dealing damage, that effect is instead negated against the target, and the spell ends.Player's Handbook (p. 230)
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.
Cantrips: guidance, light, mage hand, mind sliver, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements, bless, shield.
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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, minor illusion, mind sliver, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements, armor of Agathys, bless, protection from evil and good, shield.
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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, mind sliver, minor illusion, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements, armor of Agathys, bless, hellish rebuke, protection from evil and good, shield.
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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, mind sliver, minor illusion, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements, armor of Agathys, bless, find familiar,
2nd Level: invisibility, phantasmal force.
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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements, armor of Agathys, bless, find familiar, protection from evil and good, shield.
2nd Level: hold person, invisibility, phantasmal force.
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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements, armor of Agathys, bless, find familiar,
2nd Level: hold person, invisibility, phantasmal force.
3rd Level: hypnotic pattern, summon shadowspawn.
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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements, armor of Agathys, bless, find familiar, shield.
2nd Level: hold person, invisibility, phantasmal force.
3rd Level: counterspell, hypnotic pattern, summon shadowspawn.
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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements,
2nd Level: hold person, invisibility, phantasmal force.
3rd Level: counterspell, hypnotic pattern, summon shadowspawn.
4th Level: death ward, summon aberration.
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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements, bless,
2nd Level: hold person, invisibility,
3rd Level: counterspell, fly, hypnotic pattern, summon shadowspawn.
4th Level: dimension door, death ward, summon aberration.
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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements, bless, command, shield.
2nd Level: hold person, invisibility.
3rd Level: counterspell, fly, hypnotic pattern, summon shadowspawn.
4th Level: dimension door, death ward, summon aberration.
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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements, bless, command, shield.
2nd Level: hold person,
3rd Level: counterspell, fly, hypnotic pattern, summon shadowspawn.
4th Level: dimension door, death ward, summon aberration.
5th Level: antilife shell, synaptic static.
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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, prestidigitation, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements, bless, command, shield.
2nd Level: hold person.
3rd Level: counterspell, fly, hypnotic pattern, summon shadowspawn.
4th Level: dimension door, death ward, summon aberration.
5th Level: antilife shell, synaptic static.
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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, prestidigitation, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements, bless, command, shield.
2nd Level: hold person.
3rd Level: counterspell, fly, hypnotic pattern, summon shadowspawn.
4th Level: banishment, dimension door, death ward, summon aberration.
5th Level: antilife shell, synaptic static.
6th Level: 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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, prestidigitation, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements, bless, command, shield.
2nd Level: hold person, invisibility.
3rd Level: counterspell, fly, hypnotic pattern, summon shadowspawn.
4th Level: banishment, dimension door, death ward, summon aberration.
5th Level: antilife shell, synaptic static.
6th Level: scatter.
7th Level: forcecage.
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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, prestidigitation, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements, bless, command, shield.
2nd Level: hold person, invisibility.
3rd Level: counterspell, dispel magic, fly, hypnotic pattern, summon shadowspawn.
4th Level: arcane eye, banishment, dimension door, death ward, summon aberration.
5th Level: antilife shell, synaptic static.
6th Level: scatter.
7th Level: forcecage.
8th Level: feeblemind.
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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, prestidigitation, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements, bless, command, shield.
2nd Level: hold person, invisibility.
3rd Level: counterspell, dispel magic, fly, hypnotic pattern, summon shadowspawn, summon undead.
4th Level: arcane eye, banishment, dimension door, death ward, summon aberration.
5th Level: antilife shell, synaptic static.
6th Level: scatter.
7th Level: forcecage.
8th Level: feeblemind.
9th Level: true polymorph.
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.
Cantrips: eldritch blast, guidance, light, mage hand, magic stone, mind sliver, minor illusion, prestidigitation, shape water.
1st Level: absorb elements,
2nd Level: aid, hold person, invisibility, Tasha’s mind whip.
3rd Level: counterspell, dispel magic, fly, hypnotic pattern, summon shadowspawn, summon undead.
4th Level: arcane eye, banishment, dimension door, death ward, summon aberration.
5th Level: antilife shell, synaptic static.
6th Level: scatter.
7th Level: forcecage.
8th Level: feeblemind.
9th Level: true polymorph.
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.
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!
Great build, I just have one question: how many times did the monk die by level 20?
That is a hillariously missread of the raw and missinterpretation of the rai xD
Every cast of death ward on a creature with deathward allready there is just a renewal of the timer, not another layer of deathward
You are certainly empowered to house rule the central interaction to not work, and we indeed anticipated many DMs will in part because of a general lack on understanding surrounding the “combining magical effects” rules. Hence the large rules explanation at the beginning of the article, and disclaimer to communicate with your DM before playing the build.
“Example death ward party distribution:
Cleric: 4x death wards.
Wizard: 1x death ward.
Self: 1x death ward.
Monk: 0x death wards.”
That genuinely got a big laugh. It’s sad but true, poor monks.
I can’t see most DMs going for these Death Ward shenanigans, and the ones permissive enough to allow it probably aren’t the ones that like to constantly mention what a difficult and deadly game they run.
Also, unless I’m missing something, for a build being sold as one to use in a lethal campaign, having a sorcerer at lvl 1 with 11 AC, climbing all the way to 13 at best (outside of Shield being active of course) until lvl 5, is not my idea of a character with high survivability.
If you are starting at level 1, you can and should swap the class and feat ordering as mentioned at the beginning of the post.
Is there something I’m missing, doesn’t telekinetic have the same functionality of mage hand built in… Other than that I LOVE this build 🙂
Thanks! Regarding the error, you were correct, so this was just updated to take shape water with the extra cantrip slot for a bit of added utility.
How can you use extended spell at sorc 2? You don’t get metamagic until sorc 3.
Metamagic Adept feat taken at level 9.
As an actual lawyer IRL, I’m going to go ahead and agree with Omen–this isn’t supported by RAW. The duration of the Death Ward spell is 8 hours–i.e., the protection from death “effect” granted by the Death Ward spell lasts for 8 hours. You can’t stack that same effect multiple times. Per the Player’s Handbook (p. 205) text quoted above, “the most recent effect applies if the castings are equally potent and their durations overlap”–i.e., if you cast Death Ward a second time on the same creature, the first casting ends, and only the most recent casting applies (i.e., the second casting does nothing except extend the duration that you’re under the effects of Death Ward–it doesn’t give you a second ward).
Where does it say the first casting of a spell ends if you cast the same spell a second time? It does not state that anywhere, states only the most recent effect applies. While the durations overlap the most recent death ward applies and the other death ward cast does not. Player drops to 0 and instead drops to 1, the most recent casting of death ward ends. Now the durations of the earlier casting and the more recent casting do not overlap, and the earlier casting of death ward applies provided it hasn’t been 8 hours since it was cast.
If your interpretation that the spell ends is correct then that opens up an entirely different can of worms. I can cast a hostile spell on an ally to cleanse them of the hostile spell an enemy is currently concentrating on. For example, an enemy casts hold person on one of my allies. On my turn I cast hold person and using your interpretation their first casting ends and only the most recent casting, mine, applies. I drop concentration immediately because the rules allow me to drop concentration whenever and the ally of mine is no longer paralyzed by hold person. What if I am fighting an enemy cleric and three goons and they cast bless on their three goons and themselves upcasting it to second level? Per your interpretation I can cast bless on all of them at second level as well and the first casting ends. I drop concentration immediately and they’re no longer under the effects of bless. This of course requires us to accept that when there is an overlap in duration of identical spells the most recent casting causes other castings to end, which is not what the rules state.
I shouldn’t have said “the first casting ends”–you’re right that the first casting does not end. The point is that the effects of the two Death Ward spells do not stack. You only get the effect once, even when there are two castings. And once that effect ends, both spells end per the specific language in the Death Ward spell.
The Death Ward language is clear:
“The first time the target would drop to 0 hit points as a result of taking damage… the spell ends.”
No matter how you cut it, both spells still end per the above language. One spell isn’t “paused” such that the above specific language does not apply until after the first Death Ward gets used. The conditions for the spell ending are not the “effect.” The effect is the ward. Taking your Hold Person example, if two creatures cast a concentration debuff on you and you save on your turn, both spells end. You don’t have to save twice on two separate turns.
For your interpretation to be right, Death Ward would need to say this:
“The first time the target would drop to 0 hit points as a result of taking damage, the target instead drops to 1 hit point, and if the effect of dropping to 1 hit point instead of 0 hit points was caused by this casting of this spell, then the spell ends.”
i think a good example to look at is bless
you can have 2 people cast bless on you but 1 of the bless is not active and cant be triggered
so by the logic with 2 death wards the older one is in “sleep” mode and cant be triggered until the newer one is used up
is my understanding correct?
Bless is different, though, because it doesn’t have anything equivalent to the following language in Death Ward: “The first time the target would drop to 0 hit points as a result of taking damage… the spell ends.”
You can indeed understand it as “sleep mode” that prevents all of them from popping at once, yes.
Reversely, your example also opens up a can of worms. Are you suggesting that multiple people can cast hold person on someone and they’d have to successfully save each hold person, once per end of their turns?
Nice build, but I can’t support the lack of love for the poor monk, all those death wards and not one could be spared for the monk, shameful :). Take care.
So if i take False Life and cast it multiple time on some one then after temp hp gone – second will proc? Its kinda strange. If i and my mate cast suggestion on one target if some one of our party deal damage then both desapiar or second gona work? If some one ask about it J Crow?
No, sleep mode doesnt happen with false life due to the temp hp stacking rule.
Why would any DM allow this build to work? It exploits an extreme edge case in the rules, for one thing. This ridiculous strategy may work RAW, but it clearly isn’t RAI. More importantly, it removes all sense of risk from the game when you and your companions are each decked out with multiple “get out jail free” cards. Death Ward is supposed to be a last line of defense; it isn’t meant to make you nigh-immortal. And having the whole party hang around for seven hours while the warlock wraps them up in a cocoon of death wards is just silly from a narrative perspective. And why stop there? Why not wait until late afternoon to go adventuring and hand out even more death wards if that’s the goal. If the party waits an extra seven hours, that’s an extra 20 death wards at level 13. That’s 10 per party member, assuming a four-person party. This is the kind of optimization that makes the game less fun for everyone, players included.
Why would someone allow it? I hope I can explain in the following:
“It exploits an extreme edge case in the rules”. I don’t think you can convincingly state that this is true. Imagine the following situation: Person A casts Bless on person B. Then Person C casts Bless on person B. Then Person C drops concentration on Bless. Is person B still blessed by person A? Yes! Because casting spells on someone isn’t supposed to dispel earlier instances of the spell, they’re just not supposed to be active at the same time. This interaction *is* working as intended.
“It removes all sense of risk”. Let’s be real: Most likely you weren’t gonna hit 0 HP in the first place, and if you ARE brought to 0 HP and have 3 death wards up, you’re STILL in extremely hot water, a single upcast magic missiles spell can isntantly kill you for example.
“Hanging around for seven hours for death wards is silly from a narrative perspective”. Have magic rituals and preparation before combat truly become “silly”? The former seems like a classic fantasy trope, while the latter seems like something that just deeply makes sense – in fact, if you don’t do the latter, your narrative is about playing a bunch of reckless idiots that don’t particularly care about their own life: seems significantly more silly to me.
“Why not stop there?” Because death ward lasts 8 hours so if you keep doing it, the earliest casts are gonna run out and you just maintain the number of active death wards.
Overall this build just has a quirky interaction, but it isn’t particularly powerful, nor particularly defensive (and I personally disagree with the way it’s presented for “lethal” campaigns). If you want to look at a build working completely as intended while making everyone orders of magnitude harder to kill, and actually scaling more than a hundred times better into tier 3 and 4, have a look at the Twilight Cleric Flagship Build: That is the kind of optimization that makes the game less fun for everyone, players included.
Is Summon Greater Demon not worth taking? I was under the impression it’s far more impactful than Summon Aberration.
what familiar would you recommend for chain pact warlocks?
Imp in case you’re only using it as a scout without invocations, and Sprite in case you fancy Investment of the Chain Master. In the latter case, Imp can also be okay in case you have a strong temporary hit-point generator.
thank you
Multiple castings of Death Ward on the same target actually cause all castings to never trigger. “The first time the target would drop to 0 hit points as a result of taking damage, the target instead drops to 1 hit point, and the spell ends.” A generous DM would allow all castings to trigger simultaneous upon “the first time the target would drop to 0 hit points,” but this is not RAW. With multiple Death Wards, a paradox is created – there is no “first time the target would drop to 0 hit points,” because the other Death Ward(s) would prevent that. Thus, none of them trigger. But then, shouldn’t the Death Wards trigger? No – because it is not the “first time the target would drop to 0 hit points,” it is the last time. You are permanently dead. Do not attempt to stack Death Ward.
I do find this an amusing build for showing what can be done by RAW. Unfortunately I do not think I have ever played in a game that would actually allow this.
Do people actually play in games where they get to stack short rests like this? Certainly would be a good reason to swap to using Gritty Realism rules.
Poor Monk. You would have thought the Cleric would have been able to keep them alive with all those buffs…
at level 19 you get the 4th pact slot for warlock, is there a reason there is no example casting for death ward at level 17?
Pretty absurd build lol.
If I were to play it as you intended. I would probably pick a race that has a reduced long rest and wake up before every and start casting then. That way it’ll mitigation a little bit of the story stoppage.
At Level 9, it mentions selecting “rebuke of the talisman” invocation but you are not able to do that since your build took Pact of the Chain on your 3rd level of Warlock.
This build uses Eldritch Versatility (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything optional feature), obtained at Warlock level 4. At level 9 you can see we also swap the Pact Boon.