Warlock Patrons: The Undead

Guide by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold

Wizards of the Coast initially released the Undying warlock patron, which overlaps thematically a lot with the Undead patron but was so bad they justified trying it again in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft to patch some problems up and make the fantasy of the lich overlord patron actually feel decent to play. I think they mostly succeeded.

Do you love creepy crypts and spooky scary skeletons? Do you have grand plans for fostering your very own zombie apocalypse? If so, the Undead patron might be the right fit for you.

1st-3rd Level: Form of Dread and 1st and 2nd Level Expanded Spells

Form of Dread is the reason to take this subclass in its entirety. It’s a multiple use per long rest minute long transformation that adds a frighten effect to your attacks, grants you a bunch of free hit points, and makes you immune to the frightened condition. It defines the Undead warlock as a battlefield controller, getting repeated constant saves to fear anything near it. Extra attacks are obviously powerful with this, highly encouraging Thirsting Blade or Eldritch Blast builds to juice it to its fullest.
Bane is a neat trick to get as a warlock spell. It scales with your spell level, hitting more creatures when cast, but is a lot worse than Bless, and because it eats your concentration, an option you need to commit to early. Paired with Form of Dread, it can really define a character as the de-buffer, a character whose whole identity is making enemies have a bad time trying to do their thing. That’s a decent reason to consider this early, but you’ll definitely find better things to concentrate on past 3rd level.
False Life comes for free on an invocation. You don’t need it here; if you want False Life, it's not worth your spell slots. At will, it can be worth an invocation. It's a non-bo with Form of Dread, though, as temporary hit points from different sources don’t stack, leaving it as a spell you probably don’t ever want, even from Fiendish Vigor.
Blindness/Deafness is another fine debilitating spell to embellish the Undead fantasy; it isn’t a particularly potent save or die, as the blinded condition is mediocre in comparison to paralyzed and incapacitated, but the up-cast opening it up to become multi-target paired with it having a duration effect without concentration keeps it in a spot where you’ll frequently be willing to cast it while you’ve got another powerful spell up.
Phantasmal Force on Undead warlocks is reasonable at 3rd and 4th level, and basically uncastable past that. No up-cast strands this in a spot where its utility is fairly niche, and the bonus damage isn’t enough on its own to cast this over Hex or another persistent damaging concentration effect. With the summon spells as options (Summon Shadowspawn, Summon Undead, etc.), you’ll probably want to drop this if you do decide to mess around with it a bit in the early game a soon as you hit 5th level.

4th-7th Level: Grave Touched and 3rd and 4th Level Expanded Spells

Grave Touched transforms you from the mundane living version of yourself to a semi-undead being with a fancy little ribbon feature and a major upgrade for your Form of Dread. The first attack you make each turn, spell or weapon, can now deal necrotic damage if you feel like it. Where the juice is at is in the bonus damage dice you get on the modified attack once per turn, opening up some cool maul Pact of the Blade nonsense or just improving the Eldritch Blasts you’re firing two of each round. This both is a great thematic improvement along side a meaningful damage upgrade, which is almost exactly what I’d ask for out of a mid game feature. Excellent, all in all. A big reason to stick with the Undead patron and avoid multiclassing.
Phantom Steed is really freaking cool, and has some fun utility in and out of combat. You basically can mount it for half your speed to upgrade your movement speed to 100 ft. over ground, making you the fastest warlock alive (or dead). You could consider playing around with the Mounted Combatant feat and other mount based options just because this option exists for you; if you can protect the mount, you can keep it up for its full hour long duration, because critically, it doesn’t take your concentration. It doesn’t scale either, though, so unless you are very into the mounted ghost-knight fantasy, this may be something you’re getting a lot out of around 5th and 6th level, and a quite a bit less as you get more powerful upper level options down the road.
Speak with Dead is a spell that if you really want it, you should get it through the Whispers of the Grave innovation at 9th level. Getting it earlier can be fine, as it does something few other spells really can, but it costing you one of your two pact magic slots is a big deal. It’ll be something to pick up if you’re already happy with your other exploration and combat spell options that can be a great little tool to have access to, even as you get higher level spell slots simply because they won’t be able to do this niche effect (or come even close to it). It's not something you’ll be casting every session, nor something you’re super happy to spend spell slots on, but a fine expanded tool in your evergrowing warlock toolbox.
Death Ward is a particularly notable spell for Undead warlocks and often will feel more like a feature than a spell; because it has an 8 hour duration and you regain all your spell slots every short rest, if you happen to have any to spare before starting a rest, you can get a long duration Death Ward for free. In that use case, its a MASSIVE boon. There aren’t going to be a ton of short rests you go into with spell slots to spare, but if you ever notice you’ve got an hour or two before a major event, cast a couple of Death Wards and short rest for what will feel like free extra spells. Especially in out of combat preparation for major dungeons and events, Death Ward can leverage the Pact Magic resource in a way few other spells really can. I’d say this is one of the reasons, outside Form of Dread, to play an Undead warlock.
Greater Invisibility also happens to be an amazing addition to most character sheets, making it an easy concentration option to consider at 7th level. Advantage on attack rolls from being unseen will make you hit very consistently, often at the trade off for some bonus damage you’re not getting from Hex or a summoned companion. Still, the defensive, offensive, and exploration opportunities Greater Invisibility allows for makes it a great addition to nearly any character that can take it.

8th-10th Level: Necrotic Husk and 5th Level Expanded Spells

Necrotic Husk takes the typical boring 10th level defensive feature Otherworldly Patrons are stuck with for some reason and tacks on once per few long rests zombie-like death defiance ability, which is spicy. When things are going badly for the group, having a free reaction to mitigate dropping and deal a selective burst of 2d10+level damage can single handedly turn a losing fight around. The recharge is harsh, but the impact it can have can be game changing. The necrotic resistance and immunity isn’t all that exciting, but a giant burst of negative energy that slaps death in the face? THAT I am into.
Antilife Shell may thematically fit the Undead patron, but mechanically blows chunks. This spell takes your concentration, ends if you move so any living creature, ally or not, intersects with it, and the protection it offers fails to do anything to the majority of attacks creatures can make outside of claws and bites. It may sound cool, but as soon as the swarm of goblins figure out they can still just shoot you with their shortbows, you’ll regret wasting a precious Pact Magic slot on this.
Cloudkill also suffers from being a concentration effect, but at least offers a thematically satisfying and moderately effect control and damage option combined. 5d8 poison damage in a large area is no Fireball by any stretch, but given most of this build has been looking to leverage conditional effects, adding in a heavily obscured damaging area can be a fine boon to your builds. If anything takes damage in this twice, it’s about as good as a Fireball damage wise, and there will be a handful of times a game where you’ll just want a giant noxious Fog Cloud effect. Cloudkill can be that for you. Another small neat interaction this has is if you’re using Phantom Steed, you can out pace it and control what direction its moving each turn, letting you kind of herd it around into the exact direction you want every turn if you’ve got a wide open enough environment.

14th Level: Spirit Projection

Spirit Projection is the final 14th level subclass ability, and while not being a major upgrade for your Form of Dread or spellcasting, offers a unique and fun option for engaging with the world as a spooky ghost. The HP siphon in Form of Dread will reward warlocks looking to thrive in the midst of melee combat, as additionally assisted by the resistances granted. The flying speed is also pretty cool but what truly sets this feature apart is the ability to phase through objects and walls as if they were difficult terrain. Concentration hurts to ask out of this, as it means you’ll be making quite a few saving throws, especially if you want to be leveraging the resistances by being attacked, but as a feature you’ll use once every few encounters when your Summon Shadowspawn or Hex is down, it’ll be a great new way to interface with fights or explore the world with.

All Together

The Undead Otherworldly Patron is entirely built around Form of Dread; if you want to constantly be frightening things and attack with dark, necromantic magic, this patron delivers. The expanded spell list defines a unique lane for this to fit as a debuff focused warlock who wants to do moderate damage and debilitate enemies with effects like Cloudkill, Blindness/Deafness, and Bane. Phantom Steed opens up mounted combat to the option, and Spirit Project and Grave Touched both want you to be making attack rolls in and out of melee range to deal some free bonus necrotic damage. Compared to the Undying patron, this is a homerun, but even standing alone beside the other patrons, I think there are a myriad of great reasons here to try out the Undead.

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