Six New Archfey Spells

My wife has been playing Ileskku, an Archfey warlock, as one of her two main characters in Aurikesh since 2012, and a lot of my tweaks to the warlock class over the years have come from her experience with that character.

This time, the issue is that the Warlock spell list is super thematic… for types of warlocks that she isn’t. They’re all about Fiend, Great Old One, and Undead warlocks. (I’m pretty dubious on them being a good fit for Celestial warlocks, while I’m on the topic.) The Archfey Expanded Spells list is great, but it’s not enough, and it’s no help at all for Mystic Arcana. There’s a lot of great stuff in the Bard and Druid spell lists, and since her character is already sufficiently modified that D&D Beyond is a non-starter, she’ll get to pick from those.

Having said all of that, I also thought you, my beguiling and wondrous strange readers, would enjoy a few new fey-themed spells for Archfey warlocks. (Which means that spells that don’t require Concentration are even more desirable than normal. Holy heck do the Druid and Warlock lists over-sample from Concentration spells.)

Breath of Dreams

Level 5 Enchantment (Bard, Warlock)

Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: Self (30-foot Cone)
Components: V, S, M (moonstone dragon scale)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You exhale a cloud of sparkling silver-green motes in a 60-foot Cone. Creatures in the area roll a Constitution saving throw. A creature that fails this saving throw gains the Incapacitated condition until the end of its next turn, at which point it must repeat the save. If it fails the second save, the target has the Unconscious condition until the end of its next turn, at which point it repeats the save again. If it fails the third save, the creature has the Unconscious condition for 24 hours, and the condition doesn’t end when your Concentration ends. If the third save succeeds, it has the Unconscious condition for the spell’s duration. The spell ends on a target if it takes damage or a creature within 5 feet of it takes an action to wake it.

Creatures that don’t sleep, such as elves, or that have Immunity to the Exhaustion condition automatically succeed on saves against this spell.

Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. When you use a spell slot of level 8 or higher, a creature that fails its third save has the Unconscious condition for a year and a day. It can’t be woken early unless it receives a Remove Curse first.

Fairy Music

Level 4 Enchantment (Bard, Archfey Warlock)

Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: 60 feet (20-ft Cube)
Components: V, S, M (silver bell)
Duration: 1 minute

You conjure the music of the Feywild in the spell’s area. Creatures of your choice in the area can use a Bonus Action to join in the music, regaining Hit Points equal to 2d6 + your spellcasting modifier and ending the Deafened condition. Creatures that normally can’t hear still sense the music and benefit from the spell. This spell can heal up to five times.

Creatures in the area that are hostile to you and can hear the music make a Wisdom saving throw. A creature that fails this saving throw has the Charmed condition, and while the condition remains it can’t voluntarily leave the spell’s area. The Charmed condition ends if you or your allies damage it. Creatures Charmed by this spell don’t remember having been Charmed.

Fate-Fraying Hex

Level 3 Divination (Bard, Warlock)

Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S, M (silver shears)
Duration: 10 minutes

You cut some of the threads out of your target’s fate. Roll 1d20 three times and record the results; if they result in doubles, record that result and another number between 1 and 20 of your choice. When your target rolls a D20 Test result that matches one of the numbers you rolled, you choose whether the roll succeeds or fails. You can’t make an attack become a critical hit. If the D20 Test has multiple degrees of success or failure, you can only make it become the most basic success or failure.

Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. When you use a spell slot of level 4 or higher, roll an additional 1d20 for each spell slot level above 3.

Lure of the Wisp

Level 1 Enchantment (Bard, Druid, Warlock)

Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: 30 feet
Components: V, S, M (lantern or candle stub)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You create a Tiny glowing wisp that sheds Dim Light in a 20-foot Sphere in an unoccupied space within 10 feet of the ground. It appears as your choice of a sphere, a beckoning hand, a moth, or a winged sprite. When you cast the spell and as a Bonus Action on each subsequent turn for the duration, you can choose one creature other than yourself within 30 feet of the wisp to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes its Reaction to move up to half its Speed toward the wisp, ignoring any hazards in its path. Its movement ends immediately if a creature makes an Opportunity Attack against it. On a successful saving throw, or when it is hit by an Opportunity Attack provoked by the wisp, it can’t be affected by Lure of the Wisp for 24 hours.

When you use a Bonus Action on later turns, you can move the wisp up to 30 feet, drifting through the air. It is incorporeal and not impeded by solid objects.

Thieving Magpie

Level 1 Conjuration (Bard, Warlock, Wizard)

Casting Time: 1 Action
Range: 60 feet
Components: S
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You conjure a Tiny spectral magpie to a space you can see within range. As part of casting this spell, and as a Bonus Action on later turns during the duration, you can gesture with an empty hand to command the magpie to take the Utilize action, pickpocket a target, or administer a potion to a willing creature. As part of this Bonus Action, you can move the magpie up to 60 feet. The magpie can’t steal anything securely worn or held firmly in hand, but its bonus on Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) rolls is equal to your spell attack bonus.

The magpie can’t attack, activate magic items other than potions, or carry more than 10 pounds.

Zbilnya’s (Ortwine’s) Courtly Guise

Level 6 Transmutation (Bard, Archfey Warlock)

Casting Time: 1 Bonus Action
Range: Self
Components: V, S, M (an object engraved with a symbol of the Feywild, worth at least 500 gp)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

Reciting a poem or song, you draw on the magic of the Feywild and its Domains of Delight to transform yourself. You gain the following benefits until the spell ends:

You gain Resistance to Radiant and Necrotic damage.
You gain Immunity to the Charmed and Frightened conditions.
You take on the appearance of a Small, Medium, or Large Fey. This doesn’t change the basic configuration of your limbs, and you can’t assume the appearance of a specific individual without their permission.
Your Speed is not reduced by Difficult Terrain.
As a Bonus Action on your turn, you can teleport up to 30 feet.
You have a +2 bonus to all saving throws.
When you make a weapon attack, you can use your spellcasting ability modifier, instead of Strength or Dexterity, for the attack and damage rolls.
You can attack twice, instead of once, when you take the Attack action on your turn.

Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. When you use a spell slot of level 8 or higher, you can either remove the need for Concentration, or you can extend the duration to Concentration, up to 1 hour.

New Eldritch Invocation

Inscribed Mystic Arcana

Prerequisite: Level 11+ Warlock, Pact of the Tome Invocation

You immediately add two level 6 spells to your Book of Shadows, and each time you gain a Warlock level after 11, add two Warlock spells of level 6+ of your choice to your spellbook. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have Mystic Arcana. When you find a level 6+ Warlock spell, you can copy it into your Book of Shadows if it’s of a level you can prepare and if you have time to copy it. For each level of the spell, the transcription takes 2 hours and costs 50 GP.

You can change the spells that you have chosen as Mystic Arcana when you finish a Long Rest instead of only when you gain a Warlock level. Choose only from spells in your Book of Shadows.

Design Notes

Some of the thematic references are going to be more obvious than others, so I’ll just explain.

Breath of Dreams comes from moonstone dragons. My wife’s warlock had an artifact that let her transform into a moonstone dragon a few times, and when we were discussing things she’d enjoy doing with magic, getting even some moonstone dragon stuff (now that she doesn’t have the artifact anymore) was at the top of her list.

Fairy Music is playing with more alternative forms of healing, as I did back in this post. What would Archfey healing be like? Well, maybe this.

Fate-Fraying Hex is touching on the 4e version of Thief of Five Fates, but here it’s “reweaving” three of the twenty possible outcomes of any attempt. Sometimes you’ll use this spell and it will do nothing at all (because you roll 1, 2, and 3 when targeting an opponent, and they were going to miss on those numbers anyway). I do like that it’s something you might use on a friend or enemy. Strongly inspired by Brennan’s narration of Murray Mag’Nesson in Critical Role Campaign 4.

Lure of the Wisp is very much “what if Flaming Sphere was only forced movement, no damage… except for hazards?” Because traditional will-o-the-wisps (not D&D monsters) were all about luring you into hazards.

Thieving Magpie comes from Claws of the Magpie, a level 17 warlock power in 4e. I can’t easily re-create what it does in 4e, so instead I let to do some practical thievery. It’s Mage Hand++.

Zbilnya’s Courtly Guise is Tasha’s Otherworldly Guise, but for the part where Tasha is an Archfey. Spoilers I guess. Its alternate title, Ortwine’s Courtly Guise, is a deep cut reference to Sepulchrave’s Tales of Wyre. Long-time readers know I am a hard-core fan of that ENWorld Story Hour.

Inscribed Mystic Arcana exists because my wife enjoys the spell chase game, and Mystic Arcana being set in stone to change only when you gain Warlock levels doesn’t make a ton of sense for tomelocks.

Brandes Stoddard

Harbinger of Doom