Slaver of the Damned

The gitwerc, masters and slaves of the forces of Hel, are the most loathed and feared dwarven race. Their horrid propensity to wear the faces of their vanquished foes, the infernal debt of souls the race pays off-there are few sensible beings that react with anything but abject horror when confronted with the dreaded race. Few magic traditions, however, show as immediately the extent of gitwerc deviltry as the slaver of the damned, gitwerc who drag the souls of Hel’s damned back to the material plane in a horrid amalgamation of fused, intangible souls. On the other hand, stories abound of a sect of gitwerc that believe that they are wrestling, for however briefly, the souls of the damned from a torment worse than death. These beings hope to one day break the yoke of Hel and believe that their art is a first success to offer a respite for the damned, however temporary that respite may be.

Hel’s Dregs

Beginning at 3rd level when you take this archetype, as an action, you can call forth Hel’s dregs. The souls of the damned manifest as a semi-translucent, spherical, mobile cloud of impotently-clawing, moaning, amalgamated soul fragments. The radius of Hel’s dregs is equal to 10 feet and the cloud manifests in an unoccupied square you can see. You may, as your action or as a bonus action, direct Hel’s dregs to move up to 30 feet in any given direction, provided you can see the target area. You can direct Hel’s dregs only once per turn. Hel’s dregs can fly in three dimensions and ignore magical and nonmagical obstructions, unless these obstructions would be capable of holding back incorporeal creatures. If you do not direct the cloud or can’t see it anymore, it simply stays in place. Hel’s dregs are noisy and decrease the passive Perception to notice them by 5. Creatures actively looking for Hel’s dregs have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks made to notice Hel’s dregs.

When you call forth Hel’s dregs, you may choose to feed them you Hit Dice, placating the tormented souls. You may expend a number of Hit Dice to Hel’s dregs as part of calling them, up to a maximum of your proficiency bonus. You may regain these Hit Dice as normal. For each Hit Die you feed thus to Hel’s dregs, you increase the radius of Hel’s dregs by +5 feet. Feeding Hel’s dregs one of more of your Hit Dice also grants them one cacophony die for each Hit Die fed to them (see below).

Creatures other than devils and you treat Hel’s dregs as difficult terrain. Furthermore,the cloud of Hel’s dregs provides a rather nasty form of psychic static that distracts all those attempting to cast spells while within the cloud or adjacent to it.

Divine or arcane spells cast while within a cloud of Hel’s dregs require a Constitution saving throw to maintain Concentration. The DC is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier. On a failure, the target loses Concentration.

The cloud is not a physical entity and not even really a creature; it is incorporeal, translucent and since it is an agglomerate of the fragments of already damned creatures, cannot be killed or destroyed, but spells like banishment that send creatures back to their native plane work normally and require that Hel’s dregs be manifested again. Hel’s dregs otherwise remain manifested until you use an action to send them back to Hel or become unconscious. Once you have used this feature, you need to finish a long rest before using it again.

Cacophony Dice. The ceaseless psychic moans of Hel’s dregs are partially sustained by your lifeforce.

If you chose to feed your Hit Dice to Hel’s dregs when manifesting them, they gain cacophony dice equal to the number of Hit Dice you fed to them.

Cacophony dice are d8s. You may command Hel’s dregs to expend a total number of cacophony dice at once of up to your proficiency bonus each round. These cacophony dice may be used in a variety of ways.

As a reaction to seeing a target creature adjacent to or within Hel’s dregs cast a spell, you may cause Hel’s dregs to moan. Expend a cacophony die. You subtract the result of the cacophony die from the target’s Constitution saving throw to maintain Concentration.

You may, as a bonus action, command Hel’s dregs to try to attempt to transfer one condition of your choice from one creature within Hel’s dregs to another within 60 feet of you that you can see by expending cacophony dice. The new recipient gains the chosen condition unless he succeeds a Wisdom saving throw against DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier. On a failure, the condition remains with the original target. The severity of the condition Hel’s dregs can transfer depends on the total result of the cacophony dice you roll. If your cacophony dice result isn’t high enough to affect the condition, the attempt fails. Roll any number of cacophony dice and add the results and consult the Cacophony Condition Transfer Table.

You can command Hel’s dregs to channel their anguish in a burst of abjuration energies. You may use your reaction as a response to seeing a creature within 60 feet cast a spell, to have Hel’s dregs spew forth magic-inhibiting energies.

Choose any number of cacophony dice. Roll all cacophony dice you chose to expend and divide the result by 2. Round down the result. If the result of your cacophony dice tally exceeds the spell level of the spell you attempt to counter, then you successfully negate the spell and it fails. If the incoming spell’s level is higher than the total result of your cacophony dice, then its effects are resolved as normal.

Table: Cacophony Condition Transfer

Minimum Cacophony Result	Condition Transferred
2	Prone, deafened
5	Charmed, blinded, frightened
10	Incapacitated, poisoned
14	Paralyzed, restrained, stunned
18	Petrified, unconscious

Rise from Hel

Starting at 6th level, you may dismiss Hel’s dregs as a bonus action. Additionally, you may expend one Hit Die to hasten the ritual required to fully manifest Hel’s dregs and call them as a bonus action. The Hit Die you expend to hasten the calling of Hel’s dregs does not grant Hel’s dregs a cacophony die-it just powers the quicker summoning.

Teleporting Dregs

At 11th level, you may use your bonus action to command Hel’s dregs to teleport any place within 50 feet of their position that you can see. While teleporting, Hel’s dregs ignore all spells and effects that normally prohibit teleportation (Hel’s dregs are basically sucked back to Hel and then reemerge at the destination) and, being a weird conglomerate of soul fragments, they may be placed within magical and nonmagical obstructions, even if these would usually block incorporeal creatures.

Once you have used this feature, you must finish a short or long rest to use it again.

Back To Hel With You!

Starting at 17th level, you can use your action to send Hel’s dregs back to Hel in an agonizing 60- foot sphere of wails and anguish, centered on Hel’s dregs. Hel’s dregs scream as they’re dragged back down to their infernal masters and the screams can be heard for 1 mile. All creatures within the sphere of Hel’s dregs’ scream must succeed a Dexterity saving throw against your mutation save DC. On a failure, a creature affected by the scream takes 2d8 thunder damage for every cacophony die Hel’s dregs had when you called them, or half as much on a successful save. Once you have used this feature, you must finish a short or long rest to use it again.