Warlock Patron: The Urban Ghost
You have made a pact with the ghost of yesterday’s city, a spirit of steel and light born from millions of footsteps, wires, and whispers. Its distant voice echoes in subways, its eyes blink in broken windows, and its memories are locked in faded signs. The spirit dreams of famous nightclubs long closed, infamous crimes never solved, past mayors long dead, and a city that has been gentrified and changed a dozen times over. It grants you power to shape the energy of civilization itself and draw strength from the heartbeat of the changing crowd.
Expanded Spell List
The Urban Ghost lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a Warlock spell:
1st: Detect Magic, Thunderwave
2nd: Mirror Image, Zone of Truth
3rd: Lightning Bolt, Clairvoyance
4th: Greater Invisibility, Divination
5th: Wall of Force, Commune
Your spells manifest as light, electricity, surveillance, and the unseen networks of modern society.
Ideas for Pact Gifts and Flavors
* Pact of the Blade: Manifest an energy baton, neon knife, or police riot shield forged of living light.
* Pact of the Chain: A digital ghost, surveillance drone, or urban animal spirit (pigeon, rat, cockroach) that speaks through street noise.
* Pact of the Tome: A graffiti-covered journal, or a glowing tablet filled with encrypted wisdom from the city’s dataflow.
* Pact of the Talisman: An old subway token, neon pendant, or keycard that hums when danger draws near.
3rd Level: Citysense
You can feel the pulse of civilization around you.
* While within a city, town, or other populated area, you gain advantage on Investigation and Perception checks related to structures, crowds, or hidden routes (alleys, service tunnels, rooftops, etc.).
* You can communicate simple ideas with nearby cameras, lights, or speakers while flickering them in Morse code-like pulses.
* Once per short rest, you can sense the presence of any creature that has harmed another sentient being within the past 24 hours, within 60 feet. The city remembers violence.
6th Level: Neon Veins
Your patron infuses you with the lifeblood of electricity.
* You gain resistance to lightning and thunder damage.
* When you take damage from a creature within 30 feet, you can use your reaction to discharge energy: the attacker takes lightning damage equal to your Charisma modifier + your proficiency bonus.
* Once per long rest, you can merge with electrical lines or conduits, moving instantly between two points within 1 mile that are connected by power infrastructure (as per Misty Step but with longer range and visual sparks).
10th Level: City’s Embrace
The city protects its chosen. When you are in an urban environment and fail a saving throw, you can instead choose to succeed as the environment itself intervenes: a door slams shut, a light flickers, or a car backfires to distract your foe. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest.
14th Level: Avatar of the City
You become a living conduit of the Urban Spirit’s will. As a bonus action, you can enter an Urban Ascendance for 1 minute. During this state:
* You emit dim light in a 30-foot radius.
* You can move through crowds or difficult terrain caused by structures without penalty.
* You can make one attack per turn that deals an extra 2d10 lightning or force damage as neon light surges through your veins.
* Any ally within 10 feet gains advantage on saving throws against being frightened or charmed, feeling the collective strength of the crowd.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.