A Warlock of The Great Old One

The Great Old One Patron

Your patron is a mysterious entity whose nature is utterly foreign to the fabric of reality. It might come from the Far Realm, the space beyond reality, or it could be one of the elder gods known only in legends. Its motives are incomprehensible to mortals, and its knowledge so immense and ancient that even the greatest libraries pale in comparison to the vast secrets it holds. The Great Old One might be unaware of your existence or entirely indifferent to you, but the secrets you have learned allow you to draw your magic from it.   Entities of this type include Ghaunadar, called That Which Lurks; Tharizdun, The Chained God; Dendar, The Night Serpent; Zargon, The Returner; Great Cthulhu; and other unfathomable beings.  

Expanded Spell List

The Great Old One lets you choose from an expanded list of spells when you learn a warlock spell. The following spells are added to the warlock spell list for you.  

Great Old One Expanded Spells

Spell Level	Spells
1st	Dissonant Whispers, Tasha's Hideous Laughter
2nd	Detect Thoughts, Phantasmal Force
3rd	Clairvoyance, Sending
4th	Dominate Beast, Evard's Black Tentacles
5th	Dominate Person, Telekinesis

   

1st-level Spells

Two great single-target control effects.  

2nd-level Spells

Both options are situational, but can be extremely potent if you’re clever.  

3rd-level Spells

Clairvoyance is a fantastic scouting option if you have a normal number of spell slots like literally any other spellcaster, but Warlocks really need to save their spell slots for something more significant and impactful. Sending is very situational, and you likely can’t justify using it on a day when you’re adventuring.  

4th-level Spells

Dominate Beast is very situational, especially since you won’t be running into many beasts by the time you can cast 4th-level spells. Evard's Black Tentacles is one of the best area control spells.  

5th-level Spells

Dominate Person is among the best single-target control/debuff spells in the game. Telekinesis is a great utility.  

Awakened Mind

Starting at 1st level, your alien knowledge gives you the ability to touch the minds of other creatures. You can telepathically speak to any creature you can see within 30 feet of you. You don't need to share a language with the creature for it to understand your telepathic utterances, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language.   This is basically free permanent Tongues combined with Telepathic Link. With high Charisma and access to Face skills, you can use this a lot.  

Entropic Ward

At 6th level, you learn to magically ward yourself against attack and to turn an enemy's failed strike into good luck for yourself. When a creature makes an attack roll against you, you can use your Reaction to impose Disadvantage on that roll. If the attack misses you, your next attack roll against the creature has Advantage if you make it before the end of your next Turn.   Not as reliable as other mechanics which respond to being attacked such as the Shield spell, but imposing Disadvantage makes you mathematically immune to critical hits, and since your AC will likely exceed that of similar spellcasters like the Sorcerer and the Wizard, you’re more likely to cause attacks against you to miss. Advantage on your next attack is nice, but since it’s only one one attack it’s minimally useful with Eldritch Blast, and there are very few spell attacks beyond cantrips. You might consider learning another attack cantrip like Fire Bolt specifically for use with Entropic Ward, but unless you go Pact of the Tome it’s hard to justify spending one if your few cantrips known on a combo that you can use once per Short or Long Rest.   Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a Short or Long Rest.  

Thought Shield

Starting at 10th level, your thoughts can't be read by telepathy or other means unless you allow it. You also have Resistance to psychic damage, and whenever a creature deals psychic damage to you, that creature takes the same amount of damage that you do.   Both effects are situational. Psychic damage is extremely uncommon, but if you run into mind flayers you’re going to have a lot of fun.  

Create Thrall

At 14th level, you gain the ability to infect a humanoid's mind with the alien magic of your patron. You can use your Action to touch an Incapacitated humanoid. That creature is then Charmed by you until a Remove Curse spell is cast on it, the charmed condition is removed from it, or you use this feature again.   You can communicate telepathically with the charmed creature as long as the two of you are on the same plane of existence.   This can be hard to use. Your best bet is to affect the target while they’re sleeping. Once you make the target Charmed, the Charmed condition gives you Advantage on ability checks to “interact socially” with the creature and with a permanent telepathic connection to the creature you can easily talk the creature into doing nearly whatever you want. This isn’t a “dominate” effect so you can’t precisely control the creature’s actions, but you can talk it into taking specific courses of action (bring me that thing, tell me what you see, spy on your allies, release the prisoners, feed my dog, water my plants, kill the king, check the mail, etc.).