Cohort of Chaos 5e
Prerequisites: 4th Level, Scion of the Outer Planes (Chaotic Outer Plane) feat
You can channel cosmic forces of chaos to gain these benefits:
Ability Score Increase. Increase an ability score of your choice by 1, to a maximum of 20.
Chaotic Flare. When you roll a 1 or a 20 on an attack roll or a saving throw, the magic of chaos flows through you. Roll a d4 and consult the Chaotic Flares table to determine what happens.
A flare lasts until the end of your next turn, and a new flare can’t occur until after the first flare ends.
Chaotic Flares
| d4 | Flare | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Battle Flare | A creature of your choice that you can see is filled with reckless fury. It has advantage on attack rolls and disadvantage on ability checks. |
| 2 | Disruption Field | Waves of energy ripple around you. Every creature that starts its turn within 5 feet of you, or that moves into the area for the first time on a turn, takes 1d8 force damage. |
| 3 | Unbound | When you move, you can use some or all of your walking speed to teleport yourself once, along with any equipment you’re wearing or carrying, up to the distance used to an unoccupied space that you can see. |
| 4 | Wailing Winds | Winds swirl in a 15-foot-radius sphere centered on you. You and any other creatures in that area have disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws. |
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
Cohort of Chaos delivers on its fantasy in some unique and wacky ways that scale with the game in some interesting ways. Of all the Scion prerequisite feats, this is the one I regularly expect to see the most, especially given that Chaos comes with Minor Illusion.
Basically, one in ten d20s you roll will trigger this. With extra attack and saving throws, you’re looking to roll two to three d20s each round before advantage, meaning every few rounds you should expect to trigger this in the mid-tiers, and even more frequently in the upper tiers.
Battle Flare unfortunately doesn’t let you stack up more likely instances of this, as it can’t trigger future flares during a flare, but still makes Paladins and Fighters giddy when they roll it.
Disruption Field is pretty sweet at the low tiers, and disappointing in the mid to upper tiers when the damage feels a lot lower.
Unbound is a sick ability, acting as a no-action teleport that scales with your speed, and is the only one of these effects you’d be happy trying to fish for out of combat.
Wailing Winds can be debilitating, or it can set up your backline casters with an easier time debilitating enemies around you.
All four of these modes will have specific moments to shine, and given there are only four, will regularly come up throughout the game.
I like these abilities most on Paladins, which is a little ironic for the Chaos-related planar feat. They love critting, get to attack multiple times, have a way to impose Wisdom saving throws organically, and can survive inside of large groups of enemies to take advantage of the Disruption field when it shows up.
Other melee-ranged characters will generally like it as well, with Hexblades and other martial Warlocks also shining with it.
Long-ranged characters have a bit of a harder time. Battle Fury works on their attacks, but the remaining three are going to be quite a bit worse on average, having fewer moments to impact a fight.
I believe with the rules as written that advantage/disadvantage will only check the final result of the roll, not if any of the dice rolled before determining the “used” result are a 1 or a 20. Your mileage may vary, though, and I’d ask your DM how they’d rule it before busting this out.
Ultimately I’m not sure it's worth the investment, as none of the effects are consistent, nor massive boons, but I can imagine this is a blast to play with and will work out great on a handful of martial chaotic characters.
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