Curse of Pain

The curse of pain amplifies the aches, sadness, anguish and injuries suffered in your vicinity. All existence is pain, you can’t escape it, so use it instead.

Curse Manifestation

At 1st level, you exude an aura of enhanced pain. Aches feel worse, bruises seem to take longer to heal and your presence never helps with mental anguish. Within 10 feet of you, all the durations of spells or effects that cause pain, despair, or inflict the frightened or poisoned conditions are increased by half. Additionally, natural healing or healing by hit dice during rests is halved.

Curse Spells

You gain the following spells at the Lathspell levels listed.

Level Spells
1st Shared Pain*, Vicious Mockery
3rd Cause Fear, Ray of Sickness
5th Masochism/Sadism*, Mind Spike
9th Fear, Terrible Remorse*
13th Blight, Painwrack*
17th Cloudkill, Synaptic Static

Mental Anguish

A lathspell whose curse manifests as mental anguish learns to hone in on the psychological impacts of emotional and physical pain. They use the power of their curse to enhance the feeling of pain dealt to crush their enemy’ s resolve.

If using the despair rules from the Good Hope Crushing Despair book by Orphaned Bookworm Productions, your curse manifestation increases the duration of the demoralized condition.

Crush Resolve

At 3rd level, you can beat the resolve out of your target. When dealing damage to a creature within the range of your curse manifestation, you may roll a Charisma (Intimidate) check against the target immediately. If the Intimidate skill check succeeds (DC 8 + the creature’s Charisma and Wisdom modifiers), in addition to the normal effects of an Intimidation check, the creature has disadvantage on Wisdom and Charisma saving throws for 1d4 rounds.

Aggravate Pain

At 7th level, you can heighten the pain a creature is suffering to debilitate them. As a bonus action or reaction you may heighten the pain from a wound a creature receives within 30 feet.

The creature must receive hit point damage to trigger this ability. They must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier), if they fail they are poisoned and have disadvantage on Wisdom and Charisma saving throws for 1d6 rounds. If the damage received from a critical hit, they have disadvantage on this saving throw and the duration is extended by your Charisma modifier. If the creature is immune to the sickened condition or pain-like effects, they are instead restrained by the aggravation of the wound for 1 round.

Aura of Mental Trauma

At 15th level, you can focus the power of your curse and push it out to cause all creatures within 30 feet of you to have their minds filled with images of past trauma. They must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier) or have disadvantage on Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma saving throws, ability checks and skill checks, while within the area of the aura and for 1d6 rounds thereafter. For each round the target remains within the aura, they must make an additional Wisdom saving throw. If they succeed, their condition lessens. If they fail, they become frightened and if they fail again, stunned. For the frightened condition, you are not the focus of their fear, instead they are the focus of their fear, so they will not be forced to run. If the creature succeeds at the Wisdom saving throw to reduce their condition when only suffering from the disadvantage, they continue to suffer the disadvantage for 1d6 rounds but no longer need to make additional Wisdom saves.

If the creature is immune to mental effects, or the frightened condition, they are instead stunned for 1 round upon entering the aura unless they succeed at a Wisdom saving throw. If they succeed on the Wisdom saving throw, they are instead restrained for 1 round.

Once a creature is no longer affected by the conditions imposed by the aura, they are immune to its effects for 24 hours. You can maintain this aura for up to 1 minute and must spend an equal amount of time with the aura deactivated before you can use it again. Activating or prematurely deactivating the aura is a bonus action. It automatically ends after 1 minute with no action.

If using the despair rules from the Good Hope Crushing Despair book by Orphaned Bookworm Productions, aura of mental trauma imposes the demoralized condition instead of frightened.

Pain Nexus

A lathspell whose curse manifests as a pain nexus, has gained the ability to focus the power of their curse to not only cause pain but to feed off of it. This terrible power can be used to debilitate your foes without needing to cause them any physical harm and then use their pain to empower yourself.

Focused Pain

At 3rd level, you can focus the power of your curse to cause intense and sudden pain in your target. As an action, you can force the target to make a Constitution or Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier), your choice when using this ability. If the target fails their Constitution saving throw, they are poisoned for 1d6 rounds. If they fail their Wisdom saving throw, they have disadvantage on ability checks, saving throws, skill checks and attack rolls using their mental stats (Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma) for 1d6 rounds. The effect from the Wisdom saving throw is considered a mental effect, so mindless creatures or those immune or resistant to such abilities are immune to this iteration of the ability.

Revel in Hurt

At 7th level, You have grown used to constant pain in your life. If you or a creature within the manifestation of your curse is reduced to below half of your hit points, or subject to spells or effects that cause pain, physical or mental, or those that impose the frightened or poisoned condition, you can gain the benefits of the Heroism spell for 1 minute as a reaction. Once you activate this ability, you must wait 10 minutes before using it again.

Ebon Eyes

At 15th level, you gain the ability to cast the spell Eyebite once per long rest as an innate spell using your Charisma modifier as its spellcasting modifier. At 18th level, you gain an additional slot for the spell per day.

If using the despair rules from the Good Hope Crushing Despair book by Orphaned Bookworm Productions, revel in hurt triggers on the demoralized condition as well.

Walking Curse

At 20th level, you have been a purveyor and reveler of pain for so long that it infuses every part of your being. You gain an agonizing presence that can be activated as an action. Each round, you may target one creature within 60 feet. They must make a Wisdom save (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier) or be affected by a random pain or trauma. The conditions last for a 1d6 plus your Charisma modifier rounds unless otherwise noted.

You can maintain this aura for up to 1 minute and must spend an equal amount of time with the aura deactivated before you can use it again. During that time, one creature per round within 60 feet must make the saving throw or be subject to its effects at the beginning of its turn. While affected by your presence, they are immune to further effects until the condition is removed or its duration expires. The ability can be ended as a free action on your turn.

If the creature is immune to the condition or damage rolled, they are instead restrained for 1 round.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Breath of Life: The Lathspell (5e), © 2023, Orphaned Bookworm Productions, LLC, Authors: Connor Bates and Norman Mitchell Jr.

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